Dont Judge a Book by its Cover
by Juugonn
Summary: A six part alternate ending to Tangled, we dig deeper into Gothel's past and find out why she treated Rapunzel the way she did but not after Karma rears her ugly head and gives Gothel what she truly deserves. Will Rapunzel stay or will she return to her kingdom?
1. Alternate Ending

"Rapunzel? Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Eugene shouted up to Rapunzel in her tower, after a few seconds Eugene decided to just climb the tower on his own, determined to explain to Rapunzel why he abandoned her. As he took his first step up the tower though, Rapunzel's golden locks came flying down to him. He grinned and climbed up the hair as quickly as he could, hoping that Rapunzel was ready to forgive him and listen to what he had to say.

"Rapunzel, I thought I'd never see you again.." Eugene gasped as a gagged and chained up Rapunzel sat before him, yelling muffled words through her gag, before Eugene could understand what she was trying to say, he was stabbed in the stomach by Gothel who was standing behind him. Eugene fell to the ground, clutching his wound.

"Now look what you've done Rapunzel," Gothel started, shrugging, "Oh don't worry dear, our secret will die with him!" she walked over to Rapunzel and grabbed her chains, ready to drag her down to the bottom of the tower. Rapunzel fought as hard as she could to get to Eugene and save him. "And as for us, we are going where no one will ever find you again!" Gothel yanked on the chains, dragging a struggling Rapunzel. Pascal tried his best to help by yanking on Gothel's dress but was merely kicked against a wall. "Rapunzel, REALLY! Enough already, STOP FIGHTING ME!" She growled at Rapunzel who fell back, loosening her gag, allowing her to speak.

"No! I won't stop. For every minute of the rest of my life I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you!" Rapunzel panted heavily then glanced over at a dying Eugene then back at Gothel. "But... if you let me save him, I will go with you."

"N- no, No Rapunzel." A struggling Eugene gasped out to her.

"I'll never run, I'll never try to escape.. Just let me heal him and you and I will be together forever, just like you want! Everything will be the way it was," Rapunzel breathing calmed. "I promise, just like you want..." she continued, Pascal shook his head, recovering from the strike and looked over at Rapunzel, with horror in his eyes. "Just, let me, heal him!" She finished. Gothel looked down at Rapunzel in disbelief but allowed her to do so after some convincing herself, she chained up Eugene "In case you get any ideas about following us!" Gothel snarled at the dying man as she tightened his shackles. Rapunzel threw herself at Eugene.

"Eugene!" She cried, lifting his jacket to show his wound then began gathering up her hair. "I'm so sorry, everything is going to be okay, I promise you, you have to trust me."

"NO RAPUNZEL!" Eugene pushed her back, refusing to let her heal him. "I can't let you do this!"

"... and I can't let you die." Rapunzel replied, a tear in her eyes.

"But if you do this... you, will die." Eugene eked out with the little life he had left in him. "I love you Rapunzel and I can't let this happen-" Just before he could finish his eyes rolled back and his last breath warmed Rapunzel's cheek, the young blonde sobbed in horror as she watched the man she loved die right before her eyes, she hung her head and whispered back to him,

"I love you too-" It was too late, he was gone and she could no longer help him. Rapunzel lifted her head in anger and turned to face her evil 'so called' mother. "I will never forgive you for this!"

"Give me a break, Rapunzel, you knew him for 2 days. How can you possibly call that love?" Gothel sneered.

"You don't know him! and now you'll never get too! Why would you do such a thing, murdering someone just for being in love with me, why can't you just let me be happy! This can't just be about my hair there HAS to be something more to it..." Rapunzel pleaded. Gothel, who had her back turned to Rapunzel closed her eyes, seeming to drift into a world of her own, Rapunzel then continued in a snarky tone. "Or... are you just bitter? Just because no one ever loved you doesn't mean i should have to be alone forever!" This just made Gothel mad, she grabbed Rapunzel's chains and dragged her to her room violently, screaming at her. "All men are SCUM, they all only want one thing from women and it's not your personality let me assure you of that!" Gothel chained her to the bed, leaving little to no room for Rapunzel to move.

"You will NEVER speak to me like that again, understand!?" Gothel spat at Rapunzel's face, leaving her chained and storming out of the room and downstairs to her bedroom, Rapunzel heard the slamming of her surrogate mother's bedroom door then dropped to the ground next to her bed and sighed, not really thinking much about what Gothel had said to her. A tear dropped from her eye on to the ground and she whispered quietly to herself. "I'm so sorry... Eugene..."

Down in Gothel's room she dropped down on to her bed, looking down at the dagger in her hand she used to kill the young man, closing her eyes and remembering her past.

* * *

In a flashback a young Gothel, at Rapunzel's age, lay on the ground holding hands with an unidentified man, smiling at him just as Rapunzel smiled at Eugene. Her hand rested on his palm and the man's fingers laced through hers. The young couple gazed into the sky watching the stars in the night sky, telling each other stories about the stars and pointing out that some of them looked like animals and objects. The young man pointed at stars far in the distance that a teenage Gothel had to sit up to see, she squinted her eyes trying to see the object her lover was describing to her but he leaned over and kissed her neck which made her jump a little. She gazed, uncertain, into his eyes then slowly leaned in to kiss him, their lips locked and the fire behind them sparked, it was beginning to die down. The young man broke the kiss then looked over at the dying fire.

"Looks like the fire is going out, I guess we better get home soon." He said. Gothel turned around and smiled, raising an eyebrow at the small flames then turned back to the man, she didn't want this moment to end so she distracted him.

"Hey look! Those stars look like a horse!" She pointed to the sky facing away from the fire. The man looked up curiously and she took the opportunity whilst he was distracted to snap her fingers, causing the fire to rise.

"I don't see it." He queried.

"Maybe it's just my imagination then." Gothel spoke softly, smiling sweetly at him. He turned to look at her then realised that the fire was large again.

"Oh hey the fire rose, how did that happen?"

"No idea, maybe the wind encouraged it?" She spoke dumbly, hoping he would fall for it. She hadn't told this man yet that she was a witch and she didn't intend to as she wanted him to love her for her and not for her powers. The man shrugged it off then gazed back into her eyes, her face was illuminated by the soft flames behind them. The man smiled then leaned back in to kiss her again but this time before their lips could meet a voice came from behind her.

"Letitia! What are you doing!?" Gothel swung round to see her mother standing behind her.

"Mother I-"

"Who is this man!?" The mother interrupted. "And what are you doing?"

"I- he-.." Gothel stuttered, "His name is Elijah, Mother, He is just a friend we were just looking at the stars together."

"That's not what it looked like, don't lie to me Letitia, I can tell when you lie to me!" The older woman grabbed Gothel by the wrist and dragged her away from the man. "Get home now, I don't want you seeing that man again!"

"But mother-"

"NO BUTS! GET HOME NOW" Gothel's mother angrily yelled in her face, similar to how Gothel did to Rapunzel in present day. Gothel stepped down a little scared.

"Yes, mother." She submitted and headed home, turning around to mouth 'goodbye' to Elijah. He did the same and they parted ways. Once they got home Gothel un-clipped her cape and hung it by the door, she sadly walked towards her bedroom expecting to get sent to bed without dinner but instead she felt a striking pain hit her in the back, she screamed out and fell the floor then turned to see her mother behind her with a belt in hand, tears fell from her eyes uncontrollably. "What did I do to deserve that?" She sobbed but her mother felt anything but sympathy, in fact she got even angrier.

"How DARE you address me like that, I am your mother and you'll show me some respect!" She doubled the belt and raised it, Gothel flinched, burying her face in her sleeve. "Look at you, you're pathetic! Get up and get to bed, I don't want to see your filthy face for the rest of the night!" Gothel took this opportunity to spring to her feet and despite the throbbing pain in her back she ran to her room, closing the door and throwing herself into bed. She lay on her stomach as it was too painful to lay her back then coughed and spluttered harshly into her pillow, the only thing she was thankful for was that her mother had waited until they were home to strike her and not in front of Elijah, she wasn't sure she could face him had that happened. She'd been struck by her mother before but never this badly. In the other room she could hear faint mumbling between her parents but couldn't make out what they were saying through her loud, convulsive gasps but she could tell they were arguing, something she was accustomed to hearing. Slowly she cried herself to sleep.

During the night, around 3am, Gothel was awoken by taps to her bedroom window, she tilted her head and stared suspiciously at the window wondering if it was her imagination but this was debunked when she heard another small knock. She shot up in bed, hissing harshly having forgotten about the pain in her back. She dragged herself out of bed and carefully approached the window, drawing the curtains enough just to see a face at the other side of her window, this face was that of Elijah's. Her eyes widened and she quickly glanced around before opening the window.

"Elijah, what are you doing here?" She whispered.

"I had to see if you were okay?" He asked, concerned.

"I-" Gothel stopped, she decided not to tell him about being belted as she felt this would make her look weak and pathetic so she shook her head and continued "I'm fine, you have to leave. If my mother sees you she'll be furious."

"Fine but i need to give you something first." He leaned into the window.

"What is I-" Gothel started but was interrupted by his lips crashing on to hers. The teen closed her eyes, kissing him back.

"Much better." Elijah smiled, Gothel smiled back. "So when will I see you again?"

"I don't think any time soon, I'm pretty sure I'm grounded for the rest of my life." Gothel chuckled softly. "But I promise as soon as I get out of here, I'll come find you." She squeezed his hand.

"You're worth the wait." Elijah squeezed hers back then released his grip of her hand, "I'll see you soon." and with that he sneaked off into the darkness and Gothel closed her window quietly, as to not wake her parents and returned to bed. Gothel wrapped her arms around her pillow and snuggled into it, imagining it was her secret lover before drifting back off to sleep.

* * *

Snapping back into reality Gothel stared into her reflection in the blade and saw not herself but her mother's face staring back at her, she dropped it on the floor then turned her attention to the sound of her surrogate daughters chains clanging upstairs and her loud sobs then looked back down the blade and clenched her teeth. "What have I done!? I've become my mother!" and as if she had morphed back into her teenage self she broke down into tears.


	2. Gothel's Past

"How could I have ever let this happen..." Gothel squirmed as she cut into her arm with her blade before weakly dropping it on to the ground. She let the blood run down her arm like a waterfall, her knees buckled and she too dropped to the ground. "No, NO, I won't be like YOU!" she softly cried out, remembering all the abuse and pain her own mother had put her through. She examined her hand for a minute realising her ageing was beginning. "I deserve this, I deserve everything that happens to me, It's my fault for being like you. Are you happy now mother? Even after your demise you still manage to ruin me, you turned me into the monster I swore I'd never be." Gothel hissed at the ground. Still hearing faint noises upstairs she got up and walked into the lounge of the castle, staring at Eugene's cold dead body on the floor.

Upstairs Rapunzel was testing her shackles to see if she could release herself but to no avail, she sighed and climbed on to her bed with the little space she had to move. Downstairs she could hear noises, things being knocked over and heavy footsteps, she turned to Pascal and whispered "What is going on down there?" Pascal shrugged and crawled to the curtain, peeking out to see what was going on but by the time he got there he could see nothing, however the floor to the basement of the castle was opened. "What do you see?" Rapunzel asked Pascal but he quickly dashed back into her room when he saw Gothel coming out of the basement and closing the floor, recovering it with the rug. Rapunzel heard footsteps coming up the stairs to her room but they stopped before the curtains. Rapunzel and Pascal listened but everything fell silent. Outside the curtain Gothel was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed as another flashback clouded her mind.

* * *

Gothel's mother had finally allowed her to leave the house again but only to collect firewood.

"I want you back here in no more than 2 hours. If you don't return in that time I will come find you and let me assure you if I see you with that boy again, mark my words, Letitia, You'll never see the light of day again!" Her mother snarled at her like a rabid wolf.

"Yes, mother." A young Gothel replied in a submissive tone then left to go do the chores that her mother had ordered her to do. Whilst out in the woods Gothel came across some flowers that she'd never seen before, they were bright yellow with red trim, she ran her fingers slowly down the petals, smiling. She'd always loved flowers, it was the first gift Elijah had given her when they started dating. Her face dropped a few seconds later when she hear crackling and snapping in the woods coming from behind her as if someone or something were creeping through the forest. Gothel looked around, a little frightened and suddenly she was startled by a hand touching her shoulder, she screamed and covered her mouth but upon turning around realised it was only Elijah. "You Putz! You scared me!" She playfully hit his chest and Elijah laughed.

"Hey it was just a joke!" He raised his arms playfully in defence. "So what happened to coming and looking for me as soon as you got out of solitary confinement?" Gothel shook her head.

"I'm not exactly out, my mother sent me out for firewood but she told me that if she sees me with you she'll-" She stopped dead in her sentence

"She'll what?" Elijah queried. She didn't want to tell him the truth so she tried to drop the subject.

"It doesn't matter.." Gothel rubbed her arm anxiously.

"It does matter Tisha, tell me!" Elijah encouraged but she turned her back to him, her injury was still fresh but it wasn't much of a bother unless there was pressure on it. Elijah moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a hug from behind but her pressed his body to hard against her back and she yelped, pulling away and dropping to her knees. He dropped down next to her. "What did I do, I didn't mean to hurt you?"

"It's not you," Gothel clenched her fists attempting to stand but falling again. Elijah looked apologetically at her.

"Then what is it, you sounded like you were in pain." He lifted her chin with his finger. "Please tell me the truth, Tisha. You can trust me."

"I can't... i mean i can't tell you, not i can't trust you.. oh, please just leave me here" she begged.

"Not a chance, you can hardly move!" Gothel took a laboured breath and pushed herself off all fours and on to her knees.

"Yes i can, see? I'm fine." Elijah looked at her in disbelief then sighed.

"It's me isn't it, you don't want to be with me do you?" He asked sadly.

"What? No, don't be ridiculous, of course I want to be with you. I just-"

"Just what? and don't tell me anymore lies, Tisha, I want the truth or I'm leaving!" Gothel opened her mouth but then closed it again and sighed heavily through her nose.

"Fine, but, please don't think anything less of me..." Elijah tilted his head, he couldn't understand why she was acting so strange.

"Why on earth would I think less of you?" He started but saw Gothel unlaced her corset and let it drop to the ground then place a hand on her back then wince a little. Elijah walked over and knelt down behind the pained teen. "Is it your back?" Gothel nodded a little. Elijah began to unlace her dress at the back. His eyes widened when he saw the large gash in her spine and the severe bruising that surrounded it. "What-" He stopped and his face went from concerned to angry, he knew that Gothel's mother treated her badly but he never thought even she would stoop this low. "Your mother did this, didn't she?" He asked sternly.

"Yes." Gothel responded, her voice was shaky and almost a whisper. Elijah laced her dress back up then helped her to her feet.

"Why on earth did you think this would make me think less of you?" He cupped her cheeks in his hands.

"I don't know, I suppose I assumed you'd think I was weak.."

"Don't be so silly, I'd never think that. I'm not your mother, unlike her I actually care about you." Elijah massaged her cheek softly with his thumb but Gothel was having a hard time looking at him. "Tisha, please look at me" She sighed softly and looked into his eyes. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You can't let her treat you like this!"

"What am I supposed to do, Elijah? Hm? I can't even ask her a question without her beating me with a belt, how am i supposed to stand up to her on my own?"

"But you're not on your own, I'm here for you." Elijah tried to reassure her but she pulled away again, pushing his hands away.

"No way, I'm not letting you get involved in all of this, She'll only hurt you too, and if she doesn't my father will and if that happens I'll never forgive myself." Gothel stated.

"Then come with me! We'll run away together."

"Don't be ridiculous she'll find us-"

"No she won't, I know exactly where we can go, it's a little place I go to be alone. We can go there, they'll never find us" Gothel shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Elijah it's just... it's not possible."

"It is possible, you're just letting fear take over you." Elijah took both her hands and held them to his chest.

"LETITIA?!" A voice screamed from the woods.

"Oh no, that's my mother, you need to go, NOW!" Gothel told him.

"Fine, I'll go now! But at least think about it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!" With that Elijah pecked her lips then ran off into the forest. Gothel best down to pick up the fire wood that she dropped when she fell, unaware she'd forgotten to re-apply her corset. Gothel's mother approached her.

"Sorry mother, I tripped and dropped the wood, I was just on my way home." Gothel informed her but she glanced down to the young girls corset on the ground then back at her with a stern look, lifted her corset, hiding it behind her back then smiled evilly at her daughter.

"That's fine dear, pick it up and get home now!" Her mother walked off in front of her, hiding the corset as she walked. Gothel followed behind carrying the firewood. Once they got home Gothel dropped the firewood down on the floor next to the fire then headed to the sink to wash her hands. Her father was just leaving to go to work and was saying goodbye to her mother. She picked up a rag and began to dry her hands as her father left, her mother turned to see that Gothel's dress was laced up differently than how she had done it before her daughter left. Her mother's face screwed up angrily. Gothel had a weird feeling in her stomach, like butterflies, she felt like something bad was about to happen and she was right, she just didn't know it yet. Her evil mother waited until her father was far enough away that he couldn't hear any screams then approached Gothel. "So sweetie, you say you tripped?" Her mother questioned her. Gothel gulped then turned around to face her.

"Y-yes, mother." She replied nervously, seeing her mother had her hands behind her back. Fear filled her mind, wondering what she had, was it the belt again? Her heart began racing.

"Really? Are you sure that's your story? Hm?" Her mother pestered. "You know if you tell me the truth I might not be as mad when i punish you." Gothel's jaw quivered, had she seen her with Elijah? She knew whatever she said she would likely get hit again so she stuck to her story

"Yes mother, that's what happened. I'm not lying.."

"Really? So THIS fell off too?" Mother revealed the corset from behind her back as she walked closer to her daughter, cornering her. Gothel's eyes widened as she quickly glanced down at her waist realising she forgot to put it back on.

"I-" Before she could even speak her mother smacked her hard across the jaw.

"Don't even bother lying!" Her mother sneered, "Corset off, dress unlaced, I know EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING OUT THERE YOU LITTLE HARLOT!"

"Wait mother NO! It wasn't like that!" Gothel tried to defend herself but her mother grabbed a handful of the teens hair and twisted it, dragging her down to the floor. "MOTHER PLEASE DON'T" Gothel screamed in fear as her mother picked up the same belt she used to strike her in the back.

"THIS WILL TEACH YOU NOT TO LIE TO YOUR MOTHER!"

Gothel's screams echoed through the forest, unheard as they lived pretty much in the middle of nowhere, heard by no one except Elijah who was hiding in the trees that surrounded her house. He cringed, tightly clenching his fists with each time she screamed in pain, he wanted desperately to go in there and just kill her mother once and for all but she was a huge woman and he didn't stand a chance without some form of weapon, even then it was a long shot. After belting her several times, in several places, The mother dragged Gothel into her bedroom by the hair and tossed her on to the floor like a rag doll.

"Don't even try to leave this room ever again! I'm going to go find that scumbag and I'm going to kill him!" Her mother hissed before slamming the door, Gothel couldn't move even if she wanted to her body was in far too much trauma and pain.

"N-No." She tried to shout but it barely came out at all, luckily Gothel's mother had left her window open to let in some air and as soon as Elijah saw Gothel's mother wander off out into the woods in search of him he climbed through her window, running up to the barely conscious teen.

"Letitia!" He eked out in a panic. "This is my fault, I'm so sorry! I never should have made you show me what she did, i never should have let you go back!" He hit himself on the head, so furious at her mother he couldn't contain it. Gothel tried to push herself on to all fours but fell back on to her stomach, coughing and spluttering blood on the floor. Elijah rubbed a part of her back that he could see wasn't injured, her dress had been torn trying to scramble away from her mother. After a while she managed to speak again but this was quickly interrupted by her tears. Gothel threw herself into Elijah's chest and broke down crying, he very gently wrapped his arms around her. "That's it, I'm not leaving you here. You're coming with me, and this time I'm not asking." Gothel didn't fight him this time, she let him help her to her feet but she was struggling to put any weight on one leg that had been struck a few times by the belt. "Just hold onto me, i won't let you go." As Gothel's mother rummaged through the depths of the forest to find him, Elijah took Gothel in the completely opposite direction, he spent a lot of time doing manual labour in these forests so he could navigate them well enough to avoid her mother at all costs.

Elijah took her to a very far part of the woods that Gothel hadn't dared tread before, after navigating through some bushes and thick trees they came to a hidden tower in the middle of nowhere. Gothel looked up at it in awe, she couldn't believe she'd never seen it before. "Come on, just a little farther and you can rest." Elijah reassured her. Gothel limped alongside him to the castle.

"Wait so no one knows this is here?" She asked curiously.

"Nope, I made this place all on my own. This is where I live." He replied opening a door at the bottom of the castle, Gothel took a step inside but she cringed at the sight of all the stairs she had to climb.

"Elijah I don't think I can-" He cut her off by cradling her into his arms and carried her up the long stairway. When they got to the top Gothel was confronted by a cosy looking lounge that she in present day called her own. She looked around then back at Elijah. "Wow, this is incredible. You actually did this all on your own?" She asked.

"Yup, I needed something to do when i wasn't with you," He ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it away from her face revealing a gash she had on the side of her head he hadn't noticed before. He swallowed but kept his cool. "Come on, take a seat." He assisted her over to one of the chairs in the front room then got a clean rag. Gothel looked down at her hands, not realising before how badly she was shaking. Elijah returned with the damp rag and began to gently dab her wounds with it, she hissed and flinched a few times but put up with the pain to allow him to clean them. At one point he dropped his hand then rubbed his temples. "I'm so sorry i let this happen."

"Stop apologising, it wasn't your fault. It's my own for being so naïve."

"No, none of this is your fault, Tisha. You didn't deserve any of this." He softly kissed her head then went off to clean the rag. Gothel squirmed uncomfortably, she could feel her dress rubbing on one of the open wounds. She reached around and tried to pull on the lace but her arms were in too much pain. "Do you need help with that?" Elijah asked softly. Gothel nodded, Elijah cleaned the blood from the rag then assisted her to unlac and take off the dress. Gothel held the dress to her chest as she wasn't wearing anything but panties underneath it. Elijah gave her one of his white work shirts to wear on top, which was fine as it pretty much looked like a dress on her anyway. She tossed her torn us dress on the floor then curled up painfully on the chair, hugging her knees shyly. "Don't worry I'll buy you a new one tomorrow."

"Thank you." She said quietly back to him.

"It's a shame though" He added

"And why is that?"

"Because you look quite sexy in my shirt." He replied playfully and Gothel shot him a smirk. Elijah walked over to her and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. "Don't worry, you're safe here. I won't let her hurt you again." He assured her, handing her some tea he had made whilst she changed. Gothel felt genuinely safe with Elijah, he was the one person in the world she could actually trust. There was a long silence before either of them spoke again.

"... Elijah."

"Yes?" Another long pause occurred before Gothel followed with,

"I love you." this was the first time she had even said those words in her life, she didn't even know what love was until Elijah came along. His reaction was baffled, He knew Gothel wasn't the type to just say that kind of thing, if she said it, she MEANT it. Elijah smiled then replied.

"I love you most." Gothel smiled back at him then looked away shyly down at her tea-cup and Elijah carried on setting up the bed for her to sleep in.

* * *

Gothel snapped back to reality once again, wondering how long she had stood outside Rapunzel's room. She looked down at her arm which was still heavily bleeding then back at Rapunzel's room.

"She doesn't deserve to suffer." Gothel pulled the curtain back and Rapunzel looked up in her, not knowing what was coming next. To here dismay Gothel unlocked the shackles and set her free. There was a short silence whilst Rapunzel stood up and stared at her. "Go." She simple stated.

"Go?" Rapunzel repeated.

"Yes go, get out. You can leave, go back to your real family, they never gave up looking for you, they deserve to know where you are." Gothel replied in a calm tone. Rapunzel's eyes widened, she couldn't comprehend what was happening now, Gothel had just murdered her love all so she could keep her to herself and now she was just letting her go. 'This has to be a trick or something?' Rapunzel thought to herself."Just hurry up and go, NOW!" Gothel hissed at her. Rapunzel took her offer and ran downstairs with Pascal, who too was confused. Before she headed to the window she looked back and Gothel was watching her go. "I have no intention to chase you Rapunzel, just go back to your family!" Gothel weakly spat at her before turning her back to the young blonde.

Rapunzel tied her hair around the flower-pot holder at the window and got ready to lower herself down, just before she jumped she heard a loud thud from behind her. Only as Rapunzel turned did she notice all the blood everywhere, a huge pool of it trailing up stairs to her room. Rapunzel jumped back down from the window and cautiously approached the unconscious Gothel lying at the top of the stairs. Pascal encouraged her to just leave, thinking this was just a trick but Rapunzel shooed him away, despite everything she done to her, part of Rapunzel still cared for her surrogate mother. She knelt next to her unconscious body, noticing the slash in Gothel's arm she had made earlier with her blade. Rapunzel realised that her fainting must have been due to blood loss and attempted to wake her but to no avail. The blonde rested her hand on her mother's chest feeling her heartbeat slowing.

"No, please..." Rapunzel cried softly. Pascal couldn't understand why she cared so much, he knew Rapunzel was too much of a kind-hearted soul and she couldn't hate no matter how hard she tried. "I won't let her die Pascal, I'm not like that!" Rapunzel stated to her pet. Gothel's face began to go a ghostly white colour. Rapunzel wrapped her golden locks around her mother's arm and uttered her magical chant, hoping it would be enough to save her before it was too late.


	3. Memories and Regret

**PRE-READ warning!: The rest of this story contains some harsh murder along with NSFW content, read at your own risk.**

* * *

Gothel's eyes fluttered opened, she way laying on Rapunzel's bed, wondering how she got there. She shot up her arm, pulling down her sleeve to see her arm was completely healed as if it had never even been cut. "What?" she whispered to herself. "But how..." she shot out of bed and quietly walked out of the bedroom to see no one, she was alone in the castle. Gothel sighed and walked down the stairs to the kitchen area. "She's gone, she should have left me here to die..." Gothel mumbled to herself. "It's going to happen anyway, it only takes a few days for my aging to start, I'll be dead within the month... maybe that's what i deserve." Her voice got low, she held her head in her hand then took a seat on her chair, looking around at the paintings on the wall, she felt a dropping feeling in her stomach. It was obvious to her now that she did feel something for Rapunzel, more than just wanting her hair. She wanted her, she raised Rapunzel from a baby, it felt like her own child, the child she once fantasized with Elijah they would have together before her own mother ruined her life. She used a key to unlock one of the drawers in her apothecary table, took out an old grubby teddy that she had given to Rapunzel as a baby and stared it at, letting a tear roll down her cheek. There was a long silence before she was startled by a voice coming from behind her.

"You keep that all these years?" Came Rapunzel's voice from behind her, Gothel gasped loudly and dropped the bear, quickly wiping the tear from her cheek. She shot to her feet and turned to face the teen.

"Y-You're still here? I told you to leave!" Gothel hissed, holding a hand to her racing heart.

"What leave you here to die? No, I'm not like you." Rapunzel replied.

"But- I ruined your life! Why on earth would you care whether or not I die?" Gothel stuttered.

"Because despite everything you done, some part of me still cares for you. You raised me, I couldn't just forget about you. Regardless of the fact that you're not my real mother. At first, i thought you didn't care about me at all, you only wanted my hair to keep yourself young but, after seeing that you kept that bear all these years a part of me thinks you must have cared about me just a bit."

"I-" Usually Gothel would act emotionless in these situations but she couldn't bring herself to be any more nasty to Rapunzel, images of her mother's face kept flashing before her, calling her a useless whore and making her feel like dirt. Holding back her emotions she simply said, "Of course I cared about you, why would I give you your own room, clothe you, feed you and buy you gifts if i didn't care. I could have easily tied you up and left you in the dungeon of the tower but I didn't. I may be selfish but I'm not completely heartless." Rapunzel tilted her head.

"Then why did you do all those nasty things? I can somewhat understand you not wanting me to leave the castle but why did you kill Eugene?" She pleaded with Gothel to explain herself. "What did either of us do to deserve that?"

"BECAUSE!" Gothel snapped then calmed herself and sighed. "Because, Rapunzel, I didn't want him to take you from me. You're all I have... and yes a lot of it had to do with your hair but as far as I was concerned you were MY daughter and I wasn't about to let him isolate me just like my mother did." This slipped from her mouth, she only realised after she said it that she had. Rapunzel raised an eyebrow. "Just go Rapunzel, Get out!" Gothel turned her back to Rapunzel but the teen wasn't going to let her off that easy.

"What do you mean, just like your mother did-"

"RAPUNZEL, I SAID GET OUT!"

"NO, MOTHER!" Rapunzel yelled back at her. This stopped Gothel dead in her tracks, why was she still calling her mother? She knew that she wasn't her real mother. "Tell me about your mother, what did she do to you," Rapunzel knew nothing of Gothel's family, she had never mentioned them or told Rapunzel anything about her past. "and tell me why you took away Eugene's body and buried it, and why you slashed open your own wrist then set me free? Nothing you do seems to add up!" Gothel had no choice, Rapunzel was strong-headed just like she was, she knew she wasn't going to give up so easily.

"It's a long story." Gothel told her, sitting back down in her chair. "Sit down." Rapunzel did as she was asked.

"Mother what are yo-"

"Letitia! My name is Letitia. My birth name I mean, Gothel is a name I was given when I studied witchcraft. That happened after my mother ruined my life, I wanted a way to get back at her. I was like you once, young, bubbly, full of wonder. I too wanted to explore the world but my mother wouldn't allow it. Not because she cared but because she was evil, I was a burden on her. She never wanted me, she reminded me of that on a regular basis, her pet name for me was 'huge mistake' she told me that when i was born, from the moment she held me in her arms, she felt nothing for me." This brought sadness to Rapunzel's eyes. Gothel told Rapunzel everything she had recalled in her flashbacks from laying under the stars with Elijah to him saving her and bringing her to the very castle they were sitting in now. She even told her about all the abuse and beatings her mother had given her throughout the years.

"What happened after you hid here together?" Rapunzel asked curiously.

"Everything was great, we planned a life together and it was going perfect, but one day, Elijah left the tower to get some firewood and she found him. Mother found him and tortured him for information on where i was. He refused to give in and she-" Gothel choked up a little, no longer able to hold her tears back. She gasped heavily and tears left her eyes "-She killed him, stabbed him to death... and left his body in the woods for me to find." Rapunzel's eyes widened she knew Gothel was telling the truth, She'd NEVER cried in front of Rapunzel before, she'd never even seen her sad before. "When he didn't come back that night I went out to find him but all I found was his dead body. Then seeing my mother standing there, laughing hysterically. Reminding me that she promised she'd find him and kill him." Rapunzel felt her heart sink.

* * *

"I told you I'd find him, I told you I'd end his life." Her mother cackled.

"HOW COULD YOU!" Gothel screamed at her mother. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? IF I WAS SUCH A BURDEN ON YOUR LIFE WHY WOULD YOU CARE IF I WAS GONE?"

"Because! The thought of you living happily ever after makes me sick, I want you to suffer the way I suffered, having to deal with you for 18 years!" Her mother spat. Gothel broke down crying, uncontrollably.

"You're a monster!" She eked out.

"I know, and it feels great." Her mother grinned, a smile that could only come from the devil himself.

"Why don't you just kill me too?" Gothel asked her, grinding her teeth.

"Because that would be too easy. I'd rather watch you suffer, alone and pathetic like you've always been!" and with that her mother wandered off back home whilst Gothel mourned over her lovers dead body.

* * *

"That's horrific." Rapunzel said quietly. "Wait what happened to your mother?"

"Eventually, after I had let go of Elijah, my sadness turned to overwhelming anger. I hated being alone, I hated not having him there with me every night, I hated the world for allowing this to happen. Something evil was born inside of me one night. That dagger I own? That had been a gift from Elijah, he made it so I could protect myself if, god forbid, anything ever happened to him." Gothel went silent for a few seconds before continuing. "I took it, and I went to her house... She was in her garden, picking vegetables out the ground."

* * *

"Hello Mother." Gothel said as she stood behind her mother in the garden. Her mother spun around.

"What the bleedin' hell are you doing here?" Her mother hissed.

"Just came to see how you are." Gothel said eerily. "Came to see if you're the same old miserable pile of garbage you always were." Her mother squinted at her, licking her filthy lips.

"So in other words you came to cry about that man of yours?" Her mother laughed maniacally but Gothel kept a mischievous smirk on her face.

"Do I look like I'm crying, mother? No, I've shed my tears for Elijah, I became the lonely, miserable, damsel you wanted me to become but then it hit me, I've never going to be truly happy again whilst you still breathe. So I came to see if you're still alive, unfortunately it seems that you are."

"That must be so tragic for you, now get out of my way." She pushed her daughter aside but was met with a sharp pain in her back, in the same spot she had once struck her daughter. Gothel's mother collapsed on the ground and Gothel smiled, kneeling down next to her injured mother. Gothel raised her blade in the air, above her mother's head and for a split second her mother could see a flash of red in her eyes. Her mother sneered. "Fine, kill me, its satisfying knowing that when I die I'll see him and he'll thank me for releasing him from the burden of having to see your hideous face for the rest of his life!" This was enough to set Gothel over the edge. She slashed her mother's throat opened with her blade repeatedly, the blood squirting over her face and clothes. She stood up and backed off before snapping her fingers creating a fire around her mother and watched her burn.

* * *

"The reason I buried Eugene, the reason I set you free? It's because I realised I became the very thing I promised myself I'd never be... HER!" Gothel finished. "I reckon it's far too late to apologize to you and trust me if i could turn back the clock and change what happened I would, but I can't. You have your explanation, now you can go." She got up and walked into her bedroom, leaving Rapunzel in the front room. Rapunzel couldn't believe everything she just heard, how horrible her mother treated her. As badly as Gothel had treated Rapunzel it wasn't nearly that bad. Rapunzel silently got up and followed her mother into her bedroom.

"You didn't deserve it." Rapunzel started. "You didn't deserve any of it. I believe everything happens for a reason but I also believe that everyone deserves a happy ending, even if they've done bad things in the past..." She continued. Gothel closed her eyes, having no energy to fight Rapunzel on this, she obviously didn't want her to leave but it was the best thing for her. Gothel knew she was toxic, she didn't want Rapunzel to suffer any longer.

"Rapunzel why won't you return to your family? All you've done the last few weeks is try to get away from me and now that I'm giving you the opportunity to go you won't leave me alone?"

"Because before I thought that my life couldn't truly begin until I left the castle but now I realise my true place is here... with you." Gothel's head lifted up, she didn't understand what she was saying. "I believe in fate, and the way i see it is, fate brought me here. You were broken, you still are. That flower that dropped from the sun? It was no accident that it went to my birth mother and was then passed on to me. Fate wanted you to take me, it wanted you to raise me, it wanted us to be close and have this experience because it needed you to see the person you'd become, and it needed me to help you."

"You don't think that sounds even a little far-fetched?" Gothel replied, skeptically.

"Not at all, the king and queen may have lost their daughter but they're wealthy and they have everything they need. You have nothing, you need me more than they do. They don't even know I'm alive so not returning won't make a difference," Rapunzel walked around to the other side of the bed to sit next to Gothel. "and besides, the way I see it is, you may not be my birth mother but you are still my mother regardless. You raised me as your own and protected me from harm. That's what being a mother is about, not your blood." Gothel could feel her heart warming, a feeling she hadn't had since before she lost her lover hundreds of years ago. It felt like all the emotion she had kept bottled up for all those years was all coming out in one night. She'd never had anyone care about her they way Rapunzel did, since Elijah. Not romantic feelings but It was the same feelings of trust and safe-ness she had. "I promised you we'd be together forever and I never break a promise." Gothel turned to look at her surrogate daughter, she seen nothing but pureness shining in her eyes, Rapunzel looked back into her mothers which were red and somewhat swollen from crying so much. Rapunzel leapt up and hugged her mother tightly around the neck, Gothel hugged her back, also tightly wrapping her arms around the young girls waist. "I love you mother."

"I love you more." Gothel replied.

"I love you most." Rapunzel added, smiling a little as they usually said this line the other way around. For once Rapunzel felt like the mother, she needed to take care of and heal her mother's soul, if anyone could do it, it was her.

Later that Night Rapunzel had made dinner for them both, Gothel didn't eat much, her appetite wasn't really there after all that had happened. Rapunzel rested her head in her hand, moving the food around with her fork, seeming to be falling asleep. Gothel looked over concerned.

"Are you okay, pet?" She asked.

"Hm?" She snapped out of her day-dream. "Yes, I'm just... tired. I haven't slept since I left the tower."

"You should rest." Gothel suggested. "Go to bed, I'll clean up."

"You sure?" Doing the cleaning and chores were usually Rapunzel's job but she was very tired.

"Positive, go... and take your lizard with you, he creeps me out." She added, Pascal hissed a little at her, still unsure of this whole thing but Rapunzel scooped him up in her hands then kissed her mother's cheek unexpectedly.

"Goodnight, mother." She said softly before heading to bed. Gothel smiled a little as she watched her daughter close over her bedroom curtains. She proceeded to clean the dishes then tidy the room tower up a little. When finished she too headed to bed, she closed over her door and dropped down on to her bed. When closing her eyes she could see a clear picture of her ex lover in her mind, her eyes opened again and she turned on her side, hugging one of her pillows tightly.

"I miss you so much, Elijah." She whispered into the pillow. "I wish I could just hold you one last time." There was a brief pause as she remembered their time together in the castle, her hand reached down and slid from her knee up her thigh, pulling her dress up with it, imitating the way Elijah use to tease her. She tugged gently on her own hair, pulling it down over her face, letting out a soft and quiet gasp as her hands slipped into her panties and explored herself. She rolled on her back and with her free hand, moved the pillow she was hugging down between her legs, squeezing it tightly against herself, adding pressure to the already throbbing feeling she had between her legs. She closed her eyes over and moaned his name quietly as she remembered their first night together, whilst she pleasured herself.

* * *

Gothel was standing in their little kitchen tasting some soup she had made for him getting back from working. She heard the floor open up and he came in, throwing his bag down on the floor. Gothel turned her head to look at him.

"Good day?" She asked, smiling at him.

"Well it started off a little boring but then I came home and I saw a beautiful woman and it got a lot better." He grinned back at her.

"Really? I thought you said we were the only two people who lived here? You never told me about any beautiful woman?" Gothel stated, turning back around to stir her soup, Elijah smirked at her, walking up behind her and wrapping her arms around her waist.

"I meant you." He mumbled in her ear, burying his face into her neck. Gothel smiled and made a playfully made a disgusted noise as if she disagreed with him that she was beautiful. "Don't 'UGH' me, what you don't believe me?"

"Not a chance." She said with a grin.

"Okay fine." Elijah lifted Gothel up by the waist.

"Elijah!" Gothel squealed, trying to squirm free from his grip. He carried her into their bedroom and dropped her down on to the bed then climbed on top of her. "What are you-" She was cut off by his lips crashing down on hers.

"I'm kissing my beautiful woman, do you have a problem with that?"

"I think you have the wrong woman for a start."

"Shut up." The two laughed softly. Elijah moved his head down to touch hers then shifted down farther and began to kiss her neck and chest. Gothel closed her eyes and breathed heavily, allowing him too, her fingers ran through his hair slowly but as soon as he began to move her dress down she jumped.

"Wait, I-" He jumped too, backing off.

"What's wrong?" He asked, a little concerned for her.

"Well... despite what my mother might have you believe I actually haven't done this before, so.. I don't really know what to do." This made him chuckle just a bit.

"You are doing fine. There is no right or wrong way to do it Tisha, just do whatever you think feels right." Gothel seemed unsure but she nodded and lay back down letting him continue.

"Fine, bossy!" She teased.

"Oh is that so?" He smirked at her. "Alright then." he playfully pushed her down and bit her neck, she yelped out.

"AHH, why?" She smirked and playfully hit his shoulder.

"Because I'm just so mean to you aren't I?" He smirked back.

"Shut up!" She stuck her tongue out at him to which he playfully touched with his own. The two messed around for a while, kissing and being playful, they shifted over so they were both on the bed and Elijah let his hand slip from her knee right up her thigh, scratching her skin very lightly with his nails as he did so. These feelings were completely unfamiliar to her. She has heard about sex from her mother but had never even so much as explored herself before. This was all completely new to her. The tingling of his nails tickling her thighs shot through her hips causing them to squirm a little. She felt an unfamiliar throbbing, wet feeling between her legs, not understanding that was supposed to happen she got a bit nervous but Elijah's calmness kept her content. She closed her eyes, letting him pull her panties down, the sound of him un-buckling his belt made her nervous again but she just let it happen. She opened them again when she felt him move back up her body and place a few gentle kisses along her collarbone, she felt her private area throbbing harder as his tip touched her entrance. He could see that she looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Just relax." He whispered to her, lightly biting her bottom lip. She took a deep breath and did what he said, once she did her lover gently thrust into her. She bit down on her lip harshly, groaning a little, no one told her it would hurt the first time. He smiled, turning her head back to kiss her. Elijah began to move his hips back and forth, causing Gothel to gasp a little. The pain slowly faded away and turned into pleasure. She moaned his name as he thrust, Elijah grinned a little and continued letting her enjoy the experience in silence, only the sounds of their heavy breathing and soft moans filling the room. As she arched her back against him, Elijah took a hold of her hips, his thrusts going deeper, getting harder but it felt good. It felt so good, and she had no idea what to do, so she grabbed handfuls of the blanket beneath her, her legs squeezing against his hips tighter as she tried her best not to squirm under him. As he continued , soft moans began to escape him, they only turned her on even further. Her own moans escalated, beginning to beg for more. As he moved faster she felt strange, as if something was happening to her that she couldn't control. Her climax raged through her, causing her to cry out, Elijah pulled away and dropped down next to her, chuckling. "Are you okay?"

"Uh.." Her cheeks flushed a bright pink colour. "Yes."

"You're adorable." He leaned over and placed one last kiss on her lips as Gothel pushed her dress back down.

* * *

Rapunzel was tossing and turning, for some reason she couldn't sleep right. She got up and headed down stairs to get a drink of water. Whist down there she noticed her mother must have headed to bed too, she heard faint noises coming from her room, Rapunzel slowly and quietly approached her room but as soon as she realised the noises that were coming from it she ran off back upstairs. The sound of her footsteps startled Gothel, she shot up, covering herself and tossing the pillow aside. "Oh no." She cursed herself. She got up and peered out but Rapunzel was long gone by this point. "Oh god, she heard, I know she did. I'm going to have a field day explaining this one." She groaned to herself, going back to bed.

The next morning Rapunzel had gotten up early and was making breakfast, Gothel was in her room getting dressed, going over the conversation they were likely to have when she went out, in her head. She was dreading it but hopefully Rapunzel wouldn't say anything. She looked at herself in the mirror and cringed at the glowing red colour in her cheeks. As Gothel left her bedroom she avoided eye contact with Rapunzel as much as possible, Rapunzel noticed her strange behavior and knew instantly that she heard her last night.

"I made you breakfast." Rapunzel said, breaking the silence. Gothel jumped a little then nodded her head.

"Thank you." She took the plate from her, still avoiding eye contact. Rapunzel screwed her face up awkwardly, walking away. Pascal, was quite sure what was going on as he had been asleep during this whole ordeal. She stared at the food for a while, Rapunzel joined her at the table.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" She asked.

"I will, I'm just not really hungry at the moment." She replied.

"You said that last night too, you have to eat something..." Rapunzel tried but Gothel shook her head.

"I'm fine." Gothel fidgeted with her sleeves, Rapunzel looked over at her, concerned.

"You didn't hurt yourself again, did you?" Gothel dropped her arms to her lap.

"No, Rapunzel. I told you I'm fine now please drop it." Rapunzel could see the reddish brightness in her mother's cheeks. She sighed and finally said something.

"About last night..." She started but was quickly cut off by Gothel.

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"Okay, sorry." She replied, looking down at her own breakfast and taking a bite of it. There was a brief pause before either spoke again.

"Why were you outside my room last night anyway?"

"I-I was just getting a glass of water, I couldn't sleep right." Rapunzel defended.

"And you decided to drink it outside my room?" She raised an eyebrow at her daughter, still not completely looking her in the eyes.

"No, I uh..heard.." Gothel shot up and headed for her room. "Wait, you don't have to be embarrassed. I-I've done it too..."

"I don't want to know that, Rapunzel!" She snapped before hurrying into her room and closing the door wishing she'd never left. She leaned her back against the door and sighed heavily.

"Well, back to normal I suppose, eh Pascal?" She mumbled to her pet, who looked up at her confused.

Later on Gothel finally came out of her room, she had hidden in there all day. Rapunzel had cleaned up and was reading a book on her bed. She tried to be quiet but the sound of her heels on the floor alerted Rapunzel that she had left her room. Rapunzel pulled her curtains opened a little, her mother was clipping on her cape.

"Are you going out?" She asked quietly.

"Yes, I won't be long." Gothel replied, not looking at her daughter.

"Where are you going?" Gothel froze, she didn't want to tell her the truth so she told a small fib to distract her daughters interest.

"I'm just going to get some food and other stuff we need." She lied.

"Okay." Rapunzel went back to her room.

Gothel took a walk through the forest and tried to clear her mind, all she could think about was the mistakes she made over the past few days, if only she could turn back time and let her daughter just be happy. She sat down by the river and watched the water flow quietly down the small waterfall, a few birds were drinking from the clear water. She closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air. The sun was going down and it was starting to get dark. She heard a few footsteps coming from behind her, Gothel swung around and was confronted by one of the large men that she had earlier knocked out after lied to him. She mouthed 'no' to herself and backed up a little, she couldn't go any further though, or she'd have ended up in the river.

"Well well well, look who it is. Thought you were pretty smart tricking my brother and me?" The large man spoke, getting closer to her. She had left her weapon at home, having no way to defend herself.

"I was trying to protect my daughter, that's all." She quivered in fear.

"I don't appreciate being made a fool out of!" He walked up to her, inches from her face. "Tell me, what's a pretty young thing like you doing wondering the forest alone, unarmed, at night?" Her eyes widened, her body froze in horror. "It would be a shame if something were to happen to you." Gothel looked down at her feet which were inches from the river, she couldn't back off any more if she tried, she attempted to run but the huge man grabbed her, covering her mouth. "You're not going anywhere!" He growled through his teeth. She tried to scream but they were muffled by the man's huge hand. "Time for me to have my fun." Without much struggle he dragged her to the ground and got on top of her, still gagging her with his hand. The huge man tore at her dress and her vision got blurry as the huge man violated her.

* * *

In the Castle Rapunzel was painting on the wall, she had painted a portrait of Eugene's face, missing him dearly.

"I wish you were here to make everything better, Eugene." She mumbled to the painting. "I miss you more and more every minute." She sighed sadly. The blonde heard the door of the basement open. "Mother must be home." Rapunzel said to herself, leaping down from the wall to go see her. Rapunzel pulled open the curtains to her bedroom and pranced down the stairs. "Hi mother I ma-" She cut herself off, mortified at the sight that stood in front of her. Gothel was standing, holding her cape to her chest, shaking uncontrollably. Her dress was torn and dirty, only staying on her by a thread, she had a few red marks and faint bruises on her body that indicated she may have been hit. Rapunzel's jaw dropped "What happened to you!?" She cried. Her mother didn't answer though, she just broke down crying and dropped to the ground, on her knees. Rapunzel rushed over and dropped down also, wrapping her arms around the crying woman and squeezing her tightly. Rather than fight it she buried her face into Rapunzel's neck and hugged the girl back, letting her tears dampen the girls dress. Rapunzel somewhat knew what had happened, her mother had told her all about dangers of being attacked and rape before, another way to try to keep her from leaving the castle, she just never imagined her mother being the victim of such an ordeal. "I'm so sorry this happened." She whispered.

Rapunzel had helped Gothel clean up and get changed into her night wear. She walked into her mom's bedroom, bringing her some soup she had made. She cautiously approached her with the bowl, setting it down next to her bed. "I made you some soup." She sat down on the end of the bed, Gothel was sitting up at the top of the bed, her knees to her chest, hiding her face between her legs and chest. She turned her head a little to look at the meal her daughter had made her.

"I'm not hungry..."

"You said that this morning, and last night. You have to eat something." She replied, looking sadly at her traumatized mother.

"I can't... i feel sick." She replied in a raspy voice.

"I'm sorry." Rapunzel moved closer to her, moving one of her navy curls away from her face, "I can leave you alone..." she got up.

"No. don't go." She choked out, she grabbed Rapunzel's arm weakly, the blonde sat back down on the bed. Gothel had never felt this vulnerable since she was a teenager.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Rapunzel replied, sweetly, gently squeezing her mother's hand in her own. A tear rolled down her cheek, she felt like her dignity had just been ripped from under her feet, she leaned over and rested her head on her daughter's shoulder.

"I deserve this."

"NO! No you don't!" Rapunzel snapped. "Stop saying that!" Gothel closed her eyes and leaned back. "Are you sure you're not going to eat anything?"

"No thanks, I really can't eat anything right now. I already feel like throwing up." The sight of the incident kept flashing in her mind, it made her feel physically ill thinking about. Rapunzel frowned then leaned over and kissed her mother's cheek.

"I'll take it away, if you need anything though let me know." Rapunzel lifted the bowl.

"Thank you fl- Sweetheart. You're a good girl." Gothel managed a smile for her daughter.


	4. Terrible Fates

**SEVERAL WEEKS LATER**

* * *

Rapunzel got up early to make breakfast for herself and her mother, she made them both some pancakes with strawberries, she gave Pascal a strawberry to munch on.

"Enjoying that?" Rapunzel smiled at him. Pascal responded with a nod, enjoying the juicy berry she'd given him, it being all over his face. "Thought so." She laughed. She made some tea for herself and her mother. "Mother, breakfast is ready." She called to her mother's room. There was a long silence so Rapunzel decided to go see what was wrong. Gothel had just recovered from the attack so it was unlike her to be unresponsive at this point. "Hm, maybe she went out?" Rapunzel mumbled to herself. "Mother?" She called again, slowly opening her bedroom door. Gothel was there on her bed, trying to lace up her dress. "Oh, I thought you went out."

"Hm?" She asked, not really listening to her. "No, I can't get my dress laced up,something isn't right." Rapunzel walked over to her.

"Here, I'll help you." She attempted to tighten the lace around her chest but her mother gasped.

"That's too tight!"

"Sorry, I'll loosen it a little." She did so, tying it up.

"It doesn't feel right." Gothel squirmed.

"I can't tighten it any more, that's as far as it goes." Rapunzel replied.

"Ugh, I don't know. Maybe I'm getting a little chubby." She shrugged slightly.

"I don't see why you would, you never eat anything." Rapunzel stated.

"I do so."

"Yes but only small amounts, you never eat full meals like you used too. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know." She stood up and brushed her dress down with her hands. "I've felt a bit nauseous lately, it might be because of the... well... you know." Rapunzel went silent for a moment.

"Do you still think about that?" Rapunzel frowned.

"I can't help it, it's not something I can easily forget." She fidgeted a little, staring down at her hands.

"I know, I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up. Well I made some pancakes if you wa-"

"Oh, I'd love some actually." She hurried out of the bedroom to the table. Rapunzel looked very confused but shook it off and followed her. Gothel was already eating her breakfast by the time she sat down.

"You put a lot of syrup on these." She remarked.

"Sorry, is it too much?" Rapunzel lifted her fork. "You can have mine, I haven't put any on mine yet."

"No, i like it sweet. You did a good job of them." Rapunzel raised an eyebrow but she decided not to question it, this was the happiest she had been in months.

"Thanks, mother." She gave a faint smile. "It's nice to see you smiling." Gothel looked up at her daughter, smiling. They had gotten a lot closer in the last two months and were enjoying being together for once.

"Are you going out today?" Rapunzel asked, taking a mouthful of her breakfast.

"Um... no." Gothel hadn't left the tower much since the incident, not without some sort of weapon on hand at least.

"Well um, i was thinking of going for a walk-"

"NO, Rapunzel! NO WAY!" She snapped.

"Mother..." Rapunzel wined. "I'll be fine."

"No, you're not leaving, not without me at least. If those men hurt you I'll never forgive myself for it." She shook her head vigorously. "Not a chance." Rapunzel sighed, they were back to square one again.

"but mother-"

"I SAID NO!" She dropped her fork and stormed off into her room.

"I shouldn't have bothered." Rapunzel mumbled to Pascal who looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "She's not like that anymore Pascal, she will let me leave just not on my own." He didn't believe her but he crawled off to Rapunzel's room to take a nap on her bed. Rapunzel pushed her plate aside and walked into her mother's room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." She clasped her hands together. "Please come back out, I hate it when you hide away in your room all day." Gothel had her back turned to Rapunzel.

"I can't..." She said shakily. Rapunzel walked around to face her, she was holding a small trash can that she kept in her room, in her hand.

"Are you okay?" She asked, dropping her arms by her side.

"No, I'm sick."

"You were fine a few moments ago."

"I know, I don't know what happened." She put the can down on the ground and shoved it away with her foot. "Maybe i stood up too fast after eating." She shrugged.

"If you'd stop storming off you would be fine." Rapunzel mumbled but Gothel turned her head and scowled at her. "You promised me you'd be more open with me but anytime even the slightest bit of confrontation occurs you storm off. I want to be here with you but you're making it difficult."

"Open about what? Everything is fine!"

"Okay, whatever." Rapunzel groaned, standing up and beginning to leave to room. Gothel sighed, springing to her feet to chase after her.

"Rapunzel wait- oh." She tripped, almost falling. She held her forehead in her hand.

"What happened?" Her daughter asked, twirling round to look at her.

"I felt a bit dizzy for a second there."

"You need to sit down." Rapunzel assisted her back to sitting on the bed. Rapunzel thought to herself. "Mother, are you sure everything is okay. You've been a bit off lately."

"I don't know Rapunzel, i haven't really felt myself since-" She stopped. She froze for a second, thinking hard about something then shook her head. "Oh no."

"What? What is it?" Rapunzel queried but Gothel stood up slowly and walked over to the full length mirror in her room, she stared into it, examining herself. "...Mother?" Rapunzel said quietly as Gothel ran her hands over her chest slowly, pushing her breasts together a little, this caused her to make a pained face then she stood to the side, looking herself up and down.

"No, please don't let this happen!." She whispered to herself quietly but Rapunzel heard her.

"Mother you're scaring me now, what's wrong?" Rapunzel got up, slowly approaching her. "Please tell me!" She begged.

"Rapunzel, I thin- I think that... I might be-" She couldn't quite string the sentence together.

"Be what?" There was a long silence as Gothel stared at her slightly bloated reflection in the mirror.

"I think i might be pregnant." She spoke quickly, practically forcing the sentence out of her mouth. Rapunzel's eyes widened, it took her a second to comprehend this in her head.

"Mother how would you-"

"It all adds up, my appetite has been on and off, the tiredness, the nausea, the bloating-"

"Your mood swings?" Rapunzel added, earning another sharp scowl from her mother, she quickly broke eye contact and looked away, proving her point. Gothel closed her eyes and bared her teeth, cursing herself.

"Please let this be my imagination." She used her hand to lean against the wall, looking down at the floor. Rapunzel bit her lip, she wasn't sure if there was anything she could do or say in this situation that wouldn't make things worse. "It can't be though can it? I haven't even had my... you know... since it happened." Rapunzel nodded knowing what she meant. "I just thought it was stress."

"Maybe it is, maybe it's all to do with stress? It's possible right." Rapunzel tried to reassure her but she wasn't sure she believed that herself.

"It could be but, given the circumstances I'd say it's a long shot." She said, beginning to cry.

"Why are you crying?" Rapunzel tilted her head, there was a seconds silence before Gothel yelped out;

"I DON'T KNOW!" in a sad tone. She dropped down on the bed next to her daughter and hid her face in her palms. Rapunzel wrapped her arms around her and held her to her chest. "It must be true, I can't even control my own emotions." Gothel continued, beginning to show signs of a panic attack.

"Mom it's gonna be fine, please calm down you're not thinking clearly."

"How can I be calm? This is just the worst possible situation. This is all karma, i knew this was coming, not this exactly but something bad at least."

"Who says it has to be a bad thing, sure what happened to you was horrific and i wish it hadn't happened but... I mean it could be good for you, maybe? You'd finally have your own child." Gothel shook her head.

"No child deserves to have me as it's mother. At least you have the pleasure of knowing I'm not your birth mother but this poor thing will."

"STOP!" Rapunzel spat, Gothel jumped back a little. "Stop calling yourself a bad mother, what happened in the past is a different situation but I think you could be a really good mother to your own child. Regardless of what happened in the past you still love me right?"

"Of course I love you." Gothel took Rapunzel's hand. "You're still my daughter whether I birthed you or not."

"Exactly, if you can love me knowing I'm not truly your own then think of how much you could love a child that is your own. You have potential you're just not letting it show!" Her words hit Gothel like a bat, she was right, she couldn't deny that she loved Rapunzel like her own. "You'll be an amazing mother if you just stop letting your stubbornness take over you."

"... Maybe..."

"I know it!" Rapunzel took both her mother's hands. "I love you regardless of blood relation, I know this one will love you even more."

"I don't think i can do it, Rapunzel. Not on my own."

"Why not, you raised me on your own?" She questioned.

"Not raising the child, I mean the pregnancy thing... I've never been pregnant before, I don't know if I can do it."

"But you're not alone, you have me. Whatever happens im here for you, I'll look after you just like you looked after me all those year. Except less confinement." Rapunzel tried to joke but she only got a 'mnph' reaction from her mother. "Come on, let me be there for you. Don't shut me out, you need me more than ever now." Gothel hated to admit it but she was right, she did need her surrogate daughters help. She would need her help to keep herself young and alive for one and need her logical thinking to help her through it all.

"Okay, you're right." Gothel admitted. "I do need your help, one of us has to think logically." Rapunzel giggled a little.

"I'll be by your side the whole time, I promise!" She hugged her, earning a hug back.

"I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier, if you want to go out i won't stop you but im not letting you go alone, that's my last word on it." Gothel pulled out of her daughters hug.

"Really? That's great!" Rapunzel sprung to her feet, excited "I'll go grab my bag, thank you mother!" she kissed her then ran up to her room to grab her bag, she liked to pick up things she found like interesting stones and other cool stuff she found.

"O-kay..." Gothel stood up. "I guess we're going right now then?" She asked herself since Rapunzel was already in her room.

* * *

Rapunzel pranced around the forest, collecting little things she found interesting or pretty, Gothel followed behind her clutching her dagger under her cloak just incase. The young blonde picked up a rock and frowned at it, going very quiet.

"Are you alright?" Gothel asked her, noticing her change in behaviour.

"It's shaped like Eugene's face, I miss him." Rapunzel got teary eyed. Gothel didn't know what to do exactly, it was her fault that Eugene was dead so hugging her didn't seem appropriate.

"Look, I know there's nothing I can do or say that will ever show you how much I regret what I did-"

"You're right, there isn't." Rapunzel interrupted sounding angry, not looking at her. Gothel stared down at the dagger she used to kill the young man and squeezed her eyes shut, she reached her arm down and slid the sharp blade down the side of her thigh, her pale skin split open and the blood oozed down her leg. She cringed in pain, leaning against a tree trunk. Rapunzel looked up at a bird's nest in the trees, the mother bird was feeding its chicks and trying to prevent one from jumping off the side. Rapunzel sighed and looked around at her mother. "I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean to snap at you- What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just catching my breath, honey." She panted, still in pain. "It's okay, I understand you being mad at me. I don't deserve your forgiveness, I don't even deserve you and will never understand why you still want to be with me." Rapunzel looked down at the rock.

"I guess I'm just not over him yet. I don't think I'll ever be." She held it to her cheek. Gothel limped over to her.

"I felt the same way when my own mother murdered Elijah, it hurts for a long time but you'll get over it eventually, in my case it resulted in me murdering her two months after it happened so I'd say you'll crack any day now." She joked but Rapunzel wasn't amused.

"That's not funny." She put the rock in her bag and wandered off, Gothel painfully followed behind her, without noticing, Rapunzel had led her to the exact place she'd been assaulted 2 months earlier. When she realised she swallowed heavily, looking around to make sure they we're alone. Rapunzel felt around the side of the river for little pebbles she liked to collect, she always would ask Gothel to bring her them when she left for long periods of time. Her mother's breathing sped up rapidly to a panicked state as Rapunzel kneeled down in the exact spot it had happened, it all came rushing back to her like it had happened just yesterday. She clutched her stomach with one hand and held herself against a tree with the other, beginning to feel nauseous again. A slight noise in the distance broke her silence.

"Rapunzel we need to go, now!" She said calmly.

"I'm still looking around." Rapunzel replied, her arm was deep in the water, feeling around for anything of interest.

"No, Rapunzel, NOW!" Her strict tone had formed into a desperate whimper. "PLEASE!" She cried out, frantically looking behind where the noise had come from. Rapunzel stood up, perturbed at the rapid change in her mother's behaviour. She tried to speak again but her chest tightened and she could breathe. She dropped to the ground and coughed hard, accidentally making herself sick. Suddenly Rapunzel realised, there was only one explanation for her bizarre behaviour.

"It happened here." Rapunzel whispered to herself. "I'm so sorry mother I didn't know. Come on we'll go home." She rushed to Gothel's aid. She helped her back to their privet little part of the woods where the castle was and Rapunzel sat her down. "I didn't mean to upset you, you should have told me and i would never have went there." She slowly ran her fingers through Gothel's curls, pushing them out of her face.

"It's my fault for thinking i could face my fear, I'm just weak." She said, raspy.

"No, don't be silly. I wouldn't be able to face that either, it doesn't make you weak." Rapunzel handed her some bottled water. "Here drink this, you're getting over excited."

"Rapunzel I don't think I can do this." Gothel said, out of the blue.

"Do what?"

"Have a child, I just can't. I'm going to lose my mind." She rubbed her head.

"It seems like this now but it'll be different when it actually happens. You're the strongest person I've ever met. I feel like if you were going to give up you'd have done it a long time ago. If you can get through losing Elijah, your family and looking after me for 18 years then you can do this without a problem." Her daughter reassured her.

"Ugh, maybe you're right. I need to get over this fear. I can't let it overcome me like this." Gothel agreed. "Ignore me, I'm just hormonal." Rapunzel nodded.

* * *

The next few weeks had been hard on them both, a combination of Gothel struggling to come to terms with her pregnancy and trying to get over her abuse, Rapunzel was trying her best to help her conquer her frightening experience and look after her, it was hard with the growing changes that were happening to her mother, the mood swings were probably the hardest part to deal with, one minute she could be totally fine and the next she was either angry or crying over nothing, not to mention she was always in pain from her changing body. Starting to get a bit too tired to go out all the time Gothel has begun allowing Rapunzel to leave the tower on her own on the condition that she was armed with something, she got her daughter a lock back blade to carry around when she was out although she was only allowed to go small distances, she'd usually take Pascal with her so if anything did happen he could run back and let Gothel know.

Gothel was sitting at the table hovering her hand over some soup that Rapunzel had made her, she'd been trying everything to get her to eat properly but she only snacked on fruit and sweet things, her morning sickness was bad and she'd lost her appetite completely. She tried to get close to it but the smell of it just made her nauseous. She finally pushed the bowl away.

"I can't do it, the very smell of it makes me wasn't to throw up. No offence..." She said to Rapunzel who was leaning against the counter in the kitchen exhausted from trying everything she could think of to make her.

"It's okay I know it's not your fault but I've tried everything I can think of." Rapunzel rubbed her temples, she could feel a headache coming on.

"I told you I'm fine just snacking on stuff." Gothel tried to reassure her.

"You can't just eat apples and syrup for the next 6 months, there has to be something that doesn't make you sick?"

"I can't help it, I'm usually not picky with food but I'm just off everything." She shrugged, getting up and walking over to her daughter. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurt and I'm tired, I haven't been sleeping much. I worry about you." Rapunzel wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the ground, Gothel's jaw dropped ever so slightly.

"Rapunzel, you don't need to worry about me." Gothel unknowingly pushed Rapunzel's hair out of her face which caused the teen to look shocked, Gothel was usually super possessive with her hair, she'd never pushed it away before. "Go on upstairs and lie down, you need some sleep. I'll be fine, You don't want to grow bags under those pretty eyes." She gently pinched Rapunzel's cheek.

"Uh, okay." She nodded and headed to her bedroom. She couldn't believe she just complimented her, for the first time Rapunzel felt like her mother actually did love her, she wasn't sure if being pregnant had brought out her true maternal instinct but she had shown Rapunzel more affection in the last couple of weeks than she had in the entire 18 years they were together. It felt nice, warm actually, a feeling she hadn't felt since Eugene treated her with such affections. It may have been a pain but being pregnant was probably the best thing to happen to Gothel in Rapunzel's opinion, it just made her so sweet and loving, she didn't want that to end. Rapunzel lay down in her bed, her hair was braided like it was when she visited the castle. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and without realising how tired she was, she instantly fell asleep. Gothel was thinking the same thing downstairs, she was sitting by the fire with her fingers pushing on her own temples, whispering to herself.

"This head is not my own, what is going on?" She too couldn't understand why she was acting so strangely, it's like someone took her strong yet twisted mind and swapped it for someone more caring and compassionate. Not realising she'd been holding her breath she gasped for air as she began to feel faint and leaned back in her chair, gripping the armrests tightly. The room was spinning, she wasn't sure if it was the lack of food she'd been eating or low blood from multiple gashes she had been secretly making in her skin each time she thought about the terrible things that she did or was somehow involved in, it gave her a sense of relief that she couldn't quite explain and was becoming addictive, a thrill of sorts. Rapunzel knew nothing about it of course, she got enough lectures about not eating properly, she couldn't deal with more about the harm she was inflicting on herself. Gothel slowly looked down at her very small but now protruding baby bump, it was now noticeable in her third month, being naturally very slim, it was easy to see. She rested her hand over it and whispered quietly down to it. "What have you done to me? What have you made me become?" She was being playful but serious at the same time, she genuinely couldn't compute why she was the way she was. Gothel got up and headed to Rapunzel's room to check on her, her daughter was in a deep sleep, seeming to be in the middle of a dream. Gothel sat on the edge of her bed, careful not to wake her, she gently ran her fingers through Rapunzel's bangs and sung her healing song, hoping it would make her feel better. It restored her youthful looks and calmed her dizziness but she still had the same thoughts in her mind. She pushed the hair out of her daughters face then kissed her softly on the cheek.

"Sweet dreams, princess." She whispered to Rapunzel as she headed out of her room, closing over the curtains behind her.


	5. Trust and Bonding

The next few weeks flew by, Rapunzel felt like the day we're getting shorter. It did feel that way at this colder time of year, it got dark around 5pm so she would go to bed earlier at winter time usually. The breeze was frosty, it hit her hard as she was walking home from collecting firewood, the young teen couldn't wait until she was wrapped up in her bed. Rapunzel walked up the stairs, she no longer used her hair to enter and exit the tower, she kept it in a braid to keep it clean and tidy. Pascal jumped off her shoulder and ran to the low fire to keep warm, he was shivering.

"I'm sorry Pascal, give me a minute and I'll fix the fire." She rearranged the logs in the fire and added some new ones, causing the fire to rise. One of the flames sparked, burning her hand, Rapunzel hissed and pulled her hand away as the fire blazed. The blonde rushed to the sink to cool her burn under the cold water. "Argh, that really hurt." Pascal looked concerned but the fire was keeping him warm so he stayed near it, as far as he was concerned she could just use her hair to heal it. She thought about using her hair to heal it but she didn't really want to for reasons that only made sense to her. She loved the attention she got from her mother when she injured herself so she had completely stopped using her healing powers. "I know its pathetic but it feels so good when she gives me attention, I wont get it for much longer so i might as well soak it up whilst I can" She whispered to Pascal who was shooting her skeptical looks. She took a seat in her mother's chair, moving it closer to the fire to warm up. She wrapped herself up in a fur blanket, letting Pascal snuggle up in her lap and petted his little head with her finger.

Rapunzel was being quiet, careful not to wake her mother who she thought was in bed. Unknowns to Rapunzel, she was awake but she too was being quiet careful not to alert her daughter that she was awake. She was making small cuts in her thigh with a small blade, something about the pain just sent thrills through her, it was becoming an addiction, she mostly did it when she thought to much about her past, the deeper cuts she made signified her mother's abuse and her lover's death. The smaller less dangerous ones signified thoughts of her being a terrible mother herself. She used her thighs and not her arms because she couldn't easily hide her arms from her daughter, her dress covered her legs so they were much easier and less suspicious to hide. As the cold steel pierced her skin, she watched as the blood oozed from the wound, it ran down her leg and landed on the bed, leaving small stains in her bed sheets, the room was filled with silence as she watched it but she was suddenly startled by an unfamiliar feeling in her stomach, she'd never experienced before, it gave her such a fright that she dropped the blade on the ground next to her bed, it made a loud noise as it hit the floor which alerted Rapunzel. Gothel gasped, her heart pounded heavily against her chest as she heard her daughters footsteps approaching her bedroom and quickly hid her legs under the bed sheets and messed her hair up a little, making it look like she had just woken up.

"Is everything okay?" Rapunzel asked as she peered her head around Gothel's bedroom door.

"Hm?" She responded, acting like she was still waking up. Gothel rubbed her eyes harshly. "Yes dear, everything is fine. I just knocked over my glass of water that's all." She lied.

"Oh, do you need me to get you more?"

"Uhm.. no thank you." She didn't want Rapunzel to see the blood stained blade on the floor at the opposite side of her bed. "I think I'm going to get up anyway, you give me some privacy to get dressed please?" Gothel asked her, politely.

"Of course!" Rapunzel closed her bedroom door and returned to her chair. Gothel took a few heavily laboured breaths attempting to calm her racing heart.

Gothel came out of her room about 5 minutes later wearing a full length navy blue dress that matched her hair, the material was stretchy so it was one of the few things she could comfortably wear with her growing chest and stomach it also did not show any blood staining from her wounds which was a bonus for her. She got a fresh glass of water from the kitchen, leaning against the counter as she drank it.

"I asked out if you wanted me to get you water." Rapunzel questioned.

"I'm fine getting my water, darling. Besides you looked so comfortable there, I didn't want to bother you." Rapunzel sprang to her feet.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry I forgot i was sitting in your chair-"

"Rapunzel it's fine, sit down. I've been in bed all day i need to stretch my legs anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, SIT!" She nagged her daughter who did as she asked. Gothel walked over to the large window and opened it slightly, feeling the cold air hit her, it was more relief for her, Gothel's temperature had been all over the place, she always felt either too cold or too hot and right now it was the later, she pushed herself up on to the ledge and stared out to the forest that surrounded their castle. She unconsciously began to stroke her belly with her thumb after resting her hand on it. Rapunzel was watching her do so, only now noticing how much she'd grown in the last few weeks, 'she must be around 4 months at this point' Rapunzel thought to herself. She wasn't huge but it was unmistakable by now. "Actually, Rapunzel-" Gothel started, causing her daughter to snap out of her daze.

"Yes?"

"Could you make me something? I'm a little hungry."

"Of course I can." Rapunzel got up and headed to the kitchen, earning a smile from Gothel. She made her mother some fried fish, they'd discovered recently that fish was one thing that didn't actually make her sick. As her dinner was about to be served she leaped down from the ledge and closed the window. She pulled her chair over from the fire to the table, forgetting how heavy the chair was she dropped it down next to the table as she felt a shooting pain through her abdomen. She squealed loudly, startling both Rapunzel and Pascal who didn't realise what she was doing. "What are you doing?!" Rapunzel called out in an earnest tone. For a second Gothel's heart raced again, she hoped she hadn't just done anything to hurt her unborn child.

"I was just-"

"Lifting something heavy, not your best idea!" Rapunzel shook her head indignantly, taking hold of her arm and helping her into the chair. Gothel made a pained face as she dropped down on the chair. "You need to be more careful." Rapunzel crouched down to her height. "Are you okay now?" Gothel nodded as she suddenly felt her baby moving inside her again, she sighed in relief.

"Yes it was just a sudden pain, it's fading away now."

"Okay but from now one please ask me to do those things, I don't want to sound like im nagging you but please just be careful." She held Gothel's arms which were trembling. "You're shaking, see!"

"I just got a fright that's all, Rapunzel. I'll be okay." She gently pushed her daughter off. "You suffocating me doesn't help." Rapunzel backed off and lowered her head.

"Sorry." She returned to the kitchen and put her food on a plate. Gothel swallowed and looked down at her stomach, stroking the top of it slowly.

"Don't scare me like that." She whispered quietly to her bump, hugging it with one arm. Rapunzel placed her plate on the table in front of her. "Thank you."She moved closer to the table. "I didn't mean to snap Rapunzel, I just don't like it when you're all over me in those situations."

"I know, I just worry is all." Rapunzel sat in the chair next to hers. "I didn't mean to sound so possessive."

"It's fine, dear. Just try to stay calm in future, if anything where to actually happen, you freaking out isn't going to help. One of us needs to stay calm." Gothel said, taking a mouthful of her fish.

"You're right, i promise I'll be calmer in future." Rapunzel assured her. "Are you sure it's okay?" She asked, meaning the baby.

"Yes, it's fine. I can feel it moving"

"You can feel that?!" Rapunzel asked, surprised.

"Mhm. I only started to feel it properly today. I've had a few strange feelings before today but i figured out this morning that it was movement."

"What does it feel like?" Rapunzel asked curiously. She did hope to have her own child one day so this was interesting to her.

"I don't really know how to describe it. It feels kind of like a butterfly fluttering around inside you." Gothel shrugged.

"Oh, cool." Rapunzel responded, resting her cheek in her hand, trying to imagine what that felt like. Gothel looked up at her then did a double take as she noticed the raw, painful looking burn on Rapunzel's hand.

"What happened?" Gothel grabbed her hand to take a closer look at it.

"Oh that, it's nothing. I burned my hand on the fire earlier."

"You silly girl, why didn't you heal it?" She asked, earning a stutter from her daughter.

"I- Um.. I didn't want to touch it, it was too painful, i was afraid my hair would stick to it or something." She lied, hoping to earn some sympathy, which she did.

"Oh dear, you should have told me." She went to the kitchen and ran cold water over a rag.

"I was going to but i decided it wasn't that important." Rapunzel shrugged, looking down sadly.

"It's a bad burn, of course it's important!" She returned to her seat, wrapping Rapunzel's hand in the cold rag. Her daughter let out a small hiss from the pressure. "Oh sweetheart." She pulled Rapunzel into a hug. "You can't leave it like that, it'll scar!"

"I know, i was going to heal it with my hair once it stopped hurting so bad." Gothel rubbed her daughters arm. "Keep it in cold water and it'll cool down."

"I will." Gothel tried to pull away but Rapunzel was holding her tight.

"Rapunzel..." Gothel said uneasy.

"Sorry." She let go of her.

"What's the matter?" Gothel tilted her daughter's chin up with her finger.

"Nevermind, it's stupid." Rapunzel backed off. "You'll just think I'm being childish."

"We won't know unless you tell me."

"Okay fine, I just..." She sighed. "Since you got pregnant you've given me attention and I like it but I know when you have your own child that'll all stop so I guess I'm just trying to get as much of it as I can. I know that's pathetic but you never gave me much attention growing up so to finally get it is nice." Gothel furrowed her brows at her.

"What are you talking about? You honestly think when I have my child I'm going to push you to the side like last night's dinner? Don't be ridiculous, I'm not going to stop caring about you just because I have my child to care for." She turned around to face Rapunzel and took her hands, careful not to touch her injury. "Look, Rapunzel, I know that I wasn't a good mother to you growing up, I KNOW that. Trust me, and yes me being pregnant may have made me a little more compassionate but that's only part of it, the moment you told me you'd stay with me I told myself I was going to start being a REAL mother to you. It doesn't matter to me how old you get you're still my little girl and I'm never going to push you aside." Gothel's tone was sincere which put Rapunzel's mind at ease. "You shouldn't need to injure yourself to get my attention and maybe that's my fault, I promise from now on I'll try to pay more attention to you. Heck, I have 18 years worth of it to make up for, I promise you'll be sick of me by the end of the week." This made Rapunzel giggle slightly. "If you want, later, we can do something together. Whatever you want to do."

"Really?" Rapunzel smiled.

"Well anything within reason." She gestured down to her belly.

"Yes, of course!" She threw her arms around her mother's neck, burying her head in her chest. Gothel patted her back in return before Rapunzel pulled away.

"Are you not going eat anything?" Gothel asked her daughter after finishing her own dinner.

"Uhh actually the think I was going to eat tonight is one of the foods that makes you super nauseous so I was going to wait until you weren't around to make it."

"Oh! Well, I'll go to my room for a while and let you eat, you can come get me when you think of something you want to do." Gothel replied with a smile, pushing herself to her feet.

"I will." Rapunzel got up too. Gothel walked towards her bedroom, stopped at the door by Rapunzel next words. "I love you, mother."

"I love you too." She closed the door behind her. Rapunzel began to make herself her favourite soup, unaware of exactly what her mother did when she was alone in her room. Gothel sat on her bed and pulled up her dress to look at her self-inflicted thigh wounds. The one she had made before Rapunzel walked in was now dried up and scabbing, her entire left thigh looked like it had been in the middle of a cat fight. She stared down at her untouched right thigh, wanting to make it look the same. It never lasted long, as soon as she used Rapunzel's hair to restore her youth it also heals the scars on her legs so it was a good indicator of how often she did it. Gothel pulled the blade from under her bed and wiped the dirt off it. She laid back in her bed, with her untouched leg bent upwards and her other laying flat on the bed. She held the blade tightly against her skin, triggered by Rapunzel's reminder earlier that she never gave her any attention was enough guilt to give her the boost she needed to injure herself. She very slowly dragged the sharp end of the blade diagonally from her knee down her thigh.

"Oh I just thought of something we could do together." Rapunzel said to herself, as she gazed at the walls. She got up and skipped to her mother's room, knocking on the door. Gothel quickly pulled the blade under her pillow and covered her thigh with her dress before Rapunzel entered. "Mother I know what I want us to do together!" Rapunzel chirped.

"Oh yes and what's that?" Rapunzel leaped on to her mother's bed.

"Painting! There is some space in my room near the floor that I haven't touched yet. We could paint it together?"

"Sure, okay." Gothel agreed.

"Yey, okay I'll make my paints!" Rapunzel rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her. This was too close of a call, she was almost caught. She couldn't tell her not to come in when she knocked that would make it obvious something was wrong, Rapunzel was too persistent not to notice that. She would have to wait until her daughter was asleep from now on.

Later that day Rapunzel and Gothel spent some time together painting pictures on her wall, when they finished they went back downstairs and sat by the fire and read a book together, Typically Rapunzel was a much faster reader as she spent a lot of her time reading books but she waited for her mother to finish before turning the page, it didn't matter to her, she was just so happy to be spending some quality time with her. The two of them could just fit on Gothel's large chair, Rapunzel rested her head on her mother's shoulder as she read, Gothel rested her head on Rapunzel's when she did so. At one point Gothel crossed her legs, not realising the scabbing from her earlier wound had caught on to her dress. It tore causing the wound to bleed again. Rapunzel was starting to fall asleep on Gothel's shoulder so she closed over the book and kissed her daughter's head.

"I think you should go to bed."

"No! I'm awake." Rapunzel fussed.

"We can do this again Rapunzel, it's not the last time." She assured her.

"Okay." Rapunzel stretched and grabbed the arm of the chair to pull herself up with one hand and grabbed Gothel's thigh with the other. She quickly dropped back down again when she felt the dampness on her mother's thigh and the hissing from her pained mother. Rapunzel looked at her palm which was now covered in a red liquid. "IS that... blood?" She said to herself. Gothel frantically tried to think of an excuse.

"No, it's probably just red paint!"

"I doubt it, paint is more pigmented than that, and thicker!" She turned to face her mother. "Plus you gasped when I leaned on you, whats wrong with-" Rapunzel could see Gothel was getting read to shoot to her feet and runoff as per usual so before she got the chance Rapunzel grabbed the bottom of her dress and pulled it up revealing her severely scarred thighs along with some fresh wounds.

"RAPUNZEL!" Gothel snarled at her. Rapunzel gasped in horror.

"What have you done to yourself!?" Rapunzel asked angrily. "YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULDN'T DO THAT AGAIN!" Rapunzel jumped out of the chair and backed away from her. "What else have you lied to me about!?"

"I haven't lied about anything," Gothel snapped, also getting up. "and technically I didn't promise you anything about not doing it again."

"But WHY? Why would you do it!?"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"Try me!"

"Because Rapunzel! Because every time I sit alone, thinking to myself, every time I sleep, every time I close my eyes even for a second I'm reminded of what a horrible mother I am, what a horrible mother I had and what I lost because of sheer stupidity. I can't forgive myself for the things that have happened and i don't know how else to cope with the anger, guilt, shame, helplessness and self-hatred! Self-harm is the only way I can deal with it, it takes away the emotional pain makes me feel more alive when I feel dead inside. It's like a rush, an addiction! It gives me a sense of being in control, to you that may sound pathetic it doesn't to me!" She gasped for air, her heart racing. Her jaw quivered a little and her eyes filled with tears. "It's not just something I do for the sake of doing it, it's an illness!" Gothel dropped back down on the chair, trying her absolute hardest to stay strong and not cry but it was proving to be the hardest thing she ever had to do, she'd never opened up this much about anything this personal to anyone, let alone her daughter. "I tried my hardest after you saved my life, to stop but as soon as i got attacked and raped I just couldn't hold it anymore, and I-" Her voice broke and turned to a whimper. "I started and I just couldn't stop. It was a wake up call, I needed to face my past and this is the only way I knew how." Rapunzel froze, she couldn't speak or move, her body had gone into complete shock. She felt paralyzed and like someone had just hit her with a ton of bricks. Gothel panted heavily, staring up at the ceiling to prevent her tears from escaping. "There, you know. Now are you satisfied?" She sniffed.

"No." Rapunzel blinked. She knew nothing she could say right now would help in any way. "But," Gothel looked down at her. "I am proud of you." Her mother tilted her head in total confusion "I'm not proud that you're hurting yourself, but I'm proud that you told me, without storming off or screaming, or getting angry like you usually do. You don't have to act so tough all the time, you're allowed to show emotion. How many times have I cried in front of you? Does that make me weak?"

"No." Gothel replied quietly.

"It doesn't make you weak either, so don't let your sadness turn to anger all the time and just let your feelings out. Bottling them up doesn't help at all." Rapunzel added. Gothel squeezed her eyes tight shut. Rapunzel sat down next to her on the chair and rubbed her back comfortingly. Gothel couldn't allow herself to cry though, she had tried too hard not to cry and the rant that she just gave Rapunzel felt so good to finally get off her chest it calmed her slightly. Gothel sat back on the chair leaning on her hip, wrapped her arms around her daughter's neck and brought her legs up to rest on hers. Rapunzel's arms wrapped around her mother's chest and her head buried into it and Gothel rested her chin on her daughter's head. Just genuinely hugger her daughter felt so comforting, she felt safe again, not in a physical danger sort of way but in an emotional way. She didn't want to let go this time, she wanted to stay like this forever, she felt the love emanating from Rapunzel, it felt nice. Rapunzel felt exactly the same, she didn't want this moment to end either.

They cuddled for a while, feeling content in each other's arms, Gothel eventually broke the hug, when she saw Rapunzel rubbing her eyes.

"I think you should go to bed, You look tired." She said quietly to her.

"No, I don't want too." Rapunzel shook her head. "I won't sleep for worrying about you hurting yourself again." Gothel bit down on her lip, she couldn't very well promise that she wouldn't do it because she most likely would.

"I can't help it..."

"I understand but I don't want to leave you alone tonight." Gothel shrugged and got up, stretching.

"I really don't know what the answer is." She remarked. "All I know is we're both tired and need some sleep." Rapunzel opened her mouth but she decided against it and closed it again. She also got up and headed to her bedroom silently to get changed, Gothel did the same.

Once dressed Gothel got under the covers and snuggled into her pillow, closing her eyes. She drifted off to sleep for a while but it wasn't pleasant, she ended up drifting into a nightmare. The man who raped her, in the dream he had captured Rapunzel and was doing the same to her. She had no way of helping her, the dream was like a bird's eye view of the incident. She could see every little detail and it felt so real, she viewed the man ripping off the young woman's clothes, holding her down and abusing her in every way, emotionally, physically and sexually. It was sickening, she fought hard against this nightmare, she knew it wasn't right, like she somehow knew it was a dream and was trying to pull herself out of it as hard as she could. The dream suddenly flashed and she turned around in the dream to see the other brother standing behind her, ready to attack. She screamed loudly and sprung up, waking herself up. She covered her mouth, coming to terms with it being only a dream. Gothel panted heavily, her heart practically in her mouth, she'd never had that dream before, this one was a first. What did it mean? Maybe that she suddenly cared more about her surrogate daughter than she did about herself for the first time? These thoughts raced through her head and her vision began to spin rapidly. She mouthed 'no' and shook her head as she knew what was about to happen. She quickly shot down to the side of her bed where she kept a trash bag for when she got random morning sickness and threw up into it a few times. She wiped her mouth and the tears she had held back earlier came back with a vengeance.

Rapunzel heard her screaming and came running downstairs to see what was wrong. She swung her door open and was greeted by the sight of her mother bawling her eyes out, the young woman's heart shattered and she leaped on to the bed to comfort her.

"What happened?" Rapunzel's voice was shaky. Gothel threw herself at her daughter, dragging her down to a lying position and hugging her tightly. "Mom, you're scaring me!?"

"I- had, a- nightmare, that.." She could barely speak through her loud compulsive sobs. "They got you. They attacked you and- ...and I could see... all of it. I couldn't do anything! I couldn't... help!" Rapunzel could feel her mother's heart beating so hard it was hitting her own chest. She was coughing and spluttering so hard, choking on her own tears that she couldn't breathe and was making herself dizzy and faint. Her body seized with terror and she thought about it, her chest was tight and painful as she gasped for air. Rapunzel had never experienced either of them having a panic attack before so she had no idea what to do.

"It's okay, I'm fine, im right here. No one is going to hurt me." She ran her fingers softly through her soft curls, she pushed her mother on to her back in attempt to help her breath. "Look at me." Rapunzel stroked her cheek softly with her thumb. "You need to try to calm down." Rapunzel rested her free hand on her mother's ribs were her lungs were but Gothel writhed beneath her, feeling like she might pass out from lack of oxygen. "Stop just look into my eyes and breathe in deeply." Her daughter towered over her, encouraging her. Gothel stared into her daughter's gleaming emerald eyes and managed a few rapid sharp breathes, once she was able to get access to her lungs again she breathed in deeply and held it there for a few seconds letting the oxygen get to her brain then breathed deeply out again, a few more deep breaths and she felt a little calmer, Rapunzel grabbed her hand and squeezed it a little. "You're doing well, a few more and you should be okay." Gothel did as she was told and took a few more deep breaths until she was back into a fit state. "There, see everything is fine, it was all just a horrible dream and you got through it." Her sweet talking urged Gothel to move up and peck her daughter on the lips before hugging her tightly, Rapunzel was surprised but she didn't fight it.

"I'm scared..." She whispered. "I'm scared that they're going to come for you next."

"Shh, that won't happen." Rapunzel reassured her. "I know you'll keep me safe! You're stronger than them, don't let them intimidate you. You beat them before, you can do it again." She was right, Gothel hated to admit it but she got unlucky that day, she didn't have any means of protection which was her own mistake she always usually carried some form of blade with her. She knew she could probably murder them both if she needed too, she would gut them both if they ever touched her daughter, that she was sure of! She pulled away from Rapunzel and stroked her cheek.

"You're a good girl, taking care of your senile old mother." This made Rapunzel giggle.

"You don't look old to me."

"I may not look old but my mind is!"

"I'm sure it doesn't help that you can't sleep without having horrible nightmares." Gothel frowned.

"Most likely."

"I didn't mean to upset you-"

"You didn't, it's true I just can't sleep peacefully anymore." Rapunzel was silent for a second, thinking to herself.

"Do you think it would help if I slept here with you? That way you know I'm safe and I know that you are okay. It would put my mind at ease." Gothel was hesitant but she was out of options at this point.

"I guess it's worth a try." Rapunzel smiled and nodded.

"It might help." Gothel agreed and Rapunzel lay down in bed next to her, snuggling under the covers with her. In Rapunzel's mind this was a good thing because she could keep an eye on her and make sure she wasn't harming herself during the night which was exactly why Gothel wasn't so keen on the idea, she wasn't sure how hard she could fight her urges but tonight would be the answer to that. She lay down next to her daughter and pulled the covers up to her neck. Rapunzel shuffled over and innocently wrapped her arm around her mother's waist, holding her the way they were in the chair earlier, closing her eyes. She felt a little awkward at first but she wrapped an arm around Rapunzel's neck and closed her eyes over too.

* * *

The night they had spent together proved a success, both women slept peacefully and Gothel managed to get through the night without hurting herself, although the next morning she had done so when Rapunzel left the bedroom to make breakfast. They decided that for the time being sleeping together in the same bed was the best way to handle the older woman's horrific night terrors so they continued to do so for the next few weeks. As the weeks passed Rapunzel had gotten to spend more time with her mother and had gotten the affection she longed for. At the moment she was happy, content with her life. She finally felt a sense of freedom that she never had before.

It had been a full 6 months since the incident and it was beginning to finally become a distant memory for them both, the emotional support they had given each other was proving to help a great deal and Gothel had even stopped hurting herself as much as she used to, she still did her best to hide the marks she did make from her daughter as this only upset her. In the evening of the 6 month anniversary of her mother's incident, Rapunzel had suggested that they do something to take her mind off it. They had done a little painting and other crafts, there wasn't much Gothel could do at this point being heavily pregnant, Rapunzel didn't want her to hurt herself again with any heavy lifting or the likes so she kept their activities small. She was a lot bigger than Rapunzel had expected at this point but she'd never seen a pregnancy before so she just went with it.

"Hey, mom can I ask you a question?" Rapunzel asked, a little hesitantly.

"Yes, dear?" Gothel responded in a sing-song voice.

"You said that pregnancy lasts for nine months right?"

"Yes, that's how it usually works."

"Okay but you already look pretty big and it can only grow more right?" Rapunzel bit her bottom lip asking the next question. "Won't it hurt badly giving birth to it?" Gothel's smile dropped to a neutral expression. She had explained the concept of birth to Rapunzel but hadn't really gone into much detail about the pain.

"Well, yes actually. Birth is thought to be the most painful experience any woman can ever go through and the worst part is it isn't quick, it can take up to 2 days of non stop pain."

"Seriously? I don't think i can handle seeing you in that much pain." Rapunzel hugged herself.

"I'm afraid that's just how it is, you don't have to be around for it."

"No! I will be, I won't let you go through that alone." Rapunzel assured her.

"Rapunzel, I feel the need to tell you this but I'm not sure how to say it without sounding like a horrible person."

"It's fine, go on."

"Well, I never really explained why I took you. I guess it started when I discovered a magical flower with healing properties, the very one I used to keep myself young. Well, when your mother was pregnant with you she was deathly ill and she needed the flower to heal herself. They took the only thing in my life that I had and used it to heal your mother, then when you were born the healing powers had transferred to you. I don't understand how that worked but it did. At that point I was starting to die, so I took back what was mine, I took back my flower, the only problem was it was in the form of you. I needed you to keep myself alive. I didn't take you out of pure badness, I took you because I was scared. Scared of death, scared of facing my mother in hell." Rapunzel went silent for a long time, she wasn't sure how to respond.

"I'm not sure what to..." Rapunzel started but ended with a sigh.

"You don't have to say anything, I told you if you weren't happy living here anymore you could leave at any time." She spoke down to the table.

"I told you, I'm not leaving. Besides, I can't leave, if I leave you can't use my hair anymore and I don't want anything to happen to the baby."

"I never thought of it that way..." Gothel bit down on her lip. "This is such a messed up situation." She buried her face in her palms. Rapunzel played with her fingers awkwardly.

"We can make it work, I'm sure of it."

"We can't, Rapunzel." She began to cry. "What happens of you decide to leave, go see your parents? They'll never let you come back here, they might even send people to kill me-"

"ID NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN!" Rapunzel hissed through her teeth.

"How could you stop it!? You have no control over that? and say you did leave, even if it's after I have the baby eventually i'm going to die there are no if's nor but's about it! Then what happens to the baby? It's left alone! Maybe I should just give it up." She dropped her arms to the table.

"What are you talking about!?" Rapunzel frowned.

"Give it to someone who's more fit to look after it, I'm sure someone will be."

"Stop it! You're talking crazy! I told you I'd be here for you and I'm going to be! I never break a promise! and, if god forbid, something did happen to you? I'd take the baby! I'd never leave it! But that's not something we have to worry about because nothing is going to happen to you!" Rapunzel slammed her hands on the table making her mother jump a little.

"How can you be sure? Are you a fortune-teller suddenly?" Gothel said sarcastically.

"Okay I'm going to let that slip since you're hormonal and because I really don't want to fight with you today but I think you're just looking for excuses to be worried about something, just stop thinking about what can go wrong and think about the good things."

"Excuse me for living in the real world." Gothel shook her head.

"You know you're starting to sound like my old mother, the one who convinced me that the world is a horrible place!" Rapunzel snapped.

"That's because it is, Rapunzel! The world is cruel and evil! It finds any amounts of happiness and just rips them from under your feet.

"Just because you had a bad past doesn't mean you must have a bad future, if you expect the world to let you down you're going to get let down. You need to start thinking more positively."

"Easier said than done." she pouted.

"True but that doesn't mean it can't happen. All I wanted all my life was for you to love me and spend time with me, it may have taken a long time and some horrific incidents but it worked." Rapunzel tried to smile.

"I suppose."

"Mother can I ask you something, and please answer honestly. Say you found another of those magical flowers to keep yourself young and I was to cut my hair, banishing its powers... Would you still care about me?" She tucked some of her golden hair behind her ear and looked down nervously at the table.

"Of course I would! Why would you ask such a thing?" Gothel looked disgusted.

"It just seems like if I didn't have my hair you wouldn't have any use for me anymore and wouldn't want me here." Rapunzel shrugged a little. Gothel sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Okay, okay! Maybe in the past, yes but not anymore. Ever since that... day, 6 months ago, It opened my eyes to what's important and that's you! You're the only thing that kept me going, you were there for me, you could have left but you didn't. You helped me get through it and you helped me get through this!" She gestured to her stomach. "You're more than just magical hair to me, you're my daughter. Even if you're not."

"Really?"

"Really really." she replied playfully.

"I'm glad," Rapunzel smiled and hugged her mother.

Later that night Rapunzel stayed up, sitting on the ledge at their window enjoying the fresh crisp air and the snow-covered view whilst her mother went to bed early, claiming she wasn't feeling well. Rapunzel usually took this to mean that her mother had felt smothered by her lately so she gave her some space. Eventually she heard the clock bells go off from the palace alerting her that it was now midnight. She sighed peacefully and gazed out at the forest that surrounded the castle, her eyes began to forcefully close over. She was startled awake an hour or so later by the sound of glass hitting the floor.

"Huh, what...?" She sat up, her eyes only half-opened. She rubbed them and jumped back inside, closing over the doors. She saw her mother bending over to pick something up but struggling. "I'll get that!" The blonde rushed over and picked up a glass cup that she had dropped. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I got up to get some water." Gothel replied, tiredly.

"Oh, here let me." The teen filled the glass up with fresh water and handed it to her mother.

"Thank you but why are you up? It's past midnight you should be in bed." She asked, drinking her water afterwards.

"I fell asleep sitting at the window, it was too hot in here i needed some air."

"Yes I feel it too, well I think I do. I just woke up feeling very uncomfortable and dehydrated."

"Maybe you should go sit by the window, it might help you feel better."

"Maybe." She did as her daughter suggested, opening the doors and sitting on the ledge.

"Is that any better?" Rapunzel asked, dragging some of her loose hair over to the window as she walked.

"A little, i'm cooling down but I still feel weird. Something isn't right." She hugged herself a little, the glass was shaking in her hand. Rapunzel rested her hand on her mother's shoulder and could feel her shivering.

"You're shaking!" she exclaimed.

"I know, I told you I didn't feel well. One minute im too hot the next im too cold. I don't know what's happening." She felt her head which was burning up.

"Maybe you're getting sick?"

"That would explain the dizziness and dehydration" She shrugged it off.

"Here." Rapunzel threw a blanket over Gothel. "I don't want you to be too cold. You already have a fever, you don't want it to get any worse."

"I don't get sick, ever! It's this-" She gestured to her baby bump. "it's making me feel ill."

"I'm sure he or she doesn't mean it." Rapunzel chimed playfully, touching her bump for the first time. "You don't mean to make mommy sick, do you?"

"Tell it to stop then." Gothel replied playfully too. Rapunzel slowly moved her hand across her mother's stomach, as she did she felt something hit her hand.

"What was that?" She asked curiously.

"It just kicked, it's been doing that a lot recently. It makes sure im as uncomfortable as possible that's for sure."

"Hey can I ask, what would you rather have a boy or a girl?"

"Uhh, I haven't really thought about it to be honest with you. I'd be happy with either." She shrugged. "Would be helpful if it was a girl though, i still have your old baby stuff, it would save me money." She was half-joking but it was true.

"I kinda want it to be a boy, i think it would be cool to have a brother."

"You think? You'd have nothing in common though?" Gothel leaned back, resting her head against the wall, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"That's the fun part! It would be interesting to find out what boys like to do." Rapunzel day dreamed, thoughts of playing with her new sibling, showing him how to paint and do other things she enjoyed whilst also finding out what he would enjoy doing.

"You've thought about this more than I have." Gothel smiled as her daughter blushed a little.

"I guess I just would like a new family member, besides, it would get me off your back."

"Well that's true." Gothel joked but Rapunzel looked hurt by this comment. "I'm only teasing, you take everything much too seriously, dear."

"Oh, I guess I just feel like i smother you something."

"Well you do but I know you mean well. It doesn't annoy me per say, sometimes I just need some alone time."

"I know, I'll try not to be so obsessive in the future. You can tell me if I'm becoming too much you know." Rapunzel tried to assure her but Gothel wasn't buying it.

"No I can't, I was literally just making a joke and you looked distraught." She rolled her eyes.

"No! I mean it." Rapunzel let go of her stomach and turned to face her mother. "I won't be offended, I promise."

"Mhm." Gothel replied, beginning to make an uncomfortable looking face. She clutched her stomach and hissed in pain. "Oh god, these cramps are getting worse." Rapunzel looked worried.

"Are you sure this is normal." Rapunzel backed off.

"Yes..." Gothel pushed herself up then on to her feet. "It's fine, it happens randomly from time to time." She leaned her back straight against the wall, holding her stomach tightly. "It'll go away soon."

"Mother I think..."

"Rapunzel it's fine, really! Now go to bed it's too late to be up." Gothel commanded her but Rapunzel didn't move.

"But I-"

"NOW!" She snapped, causing her daughter to back off a few more steps.

"Okay..." Rapunzel headed to her bedroom. "Just be careful." She said before shutting over her curtains. Gothel rolled her eyes again then returned to her own bed. She lay on top of the covers as she was too hot to go under them and went back to sleep, dreading the pain she'd have to endure when the day finally did come.


	6. Setting Her Free

The winter had passed and it was getting a bit warmer again, Rapunzel was glad she could finally go back outside again, now that the ground was no longer covered in snow she could visit Eugene's grave again, she liked to sit by it and talk to him for short periods of time, she liked to imagine what he might say back. Other people might find that strange but it was a form of closure for her.

"I've been conflicted lately, I want to know more about my birth parents sure but If I go back im afraid they'll never let me leave again and I'd feel too awful about that." Rapunzel sighed heavily, picking at a daisy she'd found on the ground. "Everything is happening to fast for me, it's like, for 17 years of my life everything was simple, I only knew one life and now that I've discovered all of this the past 9 months have hit me hard, like I've been flung into the real world at a breakneck pace and I'm just not sure how to deal with it, it's hard not having you around to reassure me that everything is okay and I'm just being silly but then again it was you who got us into all that trouble in the first place so there's that!" Rapunzel giggled.

She had thought a lot about her real parents, lately. About how they must have felt about never seeing her again, it was tragic, yes but at the same time she wasn't sure she ever wanted to return. It was a messed up situation and she really didn't know how to handle it. She was starting to understand what Gothel was telling her all those years about how the world was cruel, about how it sucked every bit of happiness and replaced it with worry, fear and unfair treatment. She didn't really know what made her suddenly feel so down and depressed, she just got up and dealt with it in her own way and talking to Eugene's grave was the main one.

"Well I better go back inside now, I've been keeping a close eye on mother lately, it's been looking like she might have the baby soon so I never go too far away." Rapunzel stroked the ground above where her love was buried. "I'll come see you again later." Unknowns to her, Gothel had actually been listening to the entire conversation from inside, she'd gone down to see if she was okay. She was feeling bad that she couldn't convince Rapunzel to go back to her family, for once in her life she wanted what was best for her surrogate daughter and not herself but Rapunzel was a headstrong young woman, she wouldn't give up that easily. She knew if she wanted Rapunzel to enjoy the rest of her life she'd have to find a darn good excuse to make her leave, she hadn't quite figured it out yet but she was working on it. Gothel tried to hurry back upstairs so Rapunzel didn't catch her eavesdropping however she often forgot she wasn't as quick on her feet as she used to be, being heavily pregnant. She could hear Rapunzel coming up behind her when she stopped for breath.

"Only one way out of this." She turned as if she were coming down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Rapunzel asked her, blocking her from going down any further.

"Oh I was just going outside for fresh air is all." Gothel panted, playfully waving her hand.

"You look exhausted, did you run downstairs?" Rapunzel looked concerned.

"What? No of course not, I uh- I just tripped and startled myself is all. Nothing to worry about." She tried to shoo the blonde past her but Rapunzel watched her like a hawk. "Now if you don't mind, I need to step outside and cool down, I'm beginning to feel claustrophobic stuck in this tower all the time."

"Uh, okay." Rapunzel squeezed past her and headed upstairs, shaking off the feeling that Gothel was lying to her, she was, but Rapunzel just didn't care anymore at this point. Gothel stepped outside and caught her breath, the cool air felt nice on her skin. It wasn't too hot nor too cold, just perfect for her condition. After a few seconds of pure silence she hear a noise coming from the direction of Eugene's grave, she looked over a little freaked out, there was a flower perched on top of it, just an ordinary flower.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Gothel spoke to the grave marker. A strong breeze blew the flower off the grave and towards a bird's nest in the trees. Gothel's eyes followed it carefully. In the nest a mother bird was allowing it's baby bird to fly away on its own, even though the baby bird struggled it managed to catch the breeze and glide through the air and off into the forest. Gothel sighed and looked down at Eugene's grave. "I already set her free, she won't listen to me. There is nothing stopping her from leaving and you know it! She suddenly felt a harsh pain in her lower abdomen, she gasped, clutching her stomach.

"This doesn't mean she needs to stay..." The breeze directed her back to the bird's nest where the baby bird had returned to show its mother that it was okay. Gothel shook her head and looked back at Eugene's grave. "Don't be ridiculous, she'd never come back. If she goes back to the palace the security wouldn't let her out of their sights, and let's be realistic, as soon as she lets slip who I am they'll come after me and I'll be as good as dead. They'll burn me alive for taking her." There was a long pause, as she let out another heavy sigh. "Nothing can change my mind now..." She wondered over slowly to her own lovers grave, it had been a while since she'd visited his grave. She knelt next to it and kissed his grave marker, the forest had gone eerily silent, only the sound of her breathing could be heard now, with struggle she pushed herself to her feet before taking in the total silence that surrounded the forest, the wind stopped blowing and even the birds had stopped chirping. Gothel bit down on her lip, staring silently out to the woods. Her heart jumped into her throat when suddenly Rapunzel's voice shouted her name. "I'm coming!" Gothel shouted back, she held her chest feeling her heart pumping against her hand.

She reached out to grab the door but just before she could she felt pressure in her lower abdomen, suddenly relieved when water began gushing down her legs. She groaned softly, leaning against the wall of the tower, suddenly feeling a wave of fear rush through her, this was happening and it was happening now. Up til now she'd just assumed she'd be fine but now she wasn't so sure. She slowly dragged herself upstairs.

Rapunzel was sitting at the table wiggling a string in front of pascal who was trying to catch it, she giggled when he tripped and chomped down on his own tongue.

"Nice trick." She laughed. Pascal scowled at her then turned his back, pretending he was mad at her. "Oh come on it was only a joke!" He turned his head away. "Okay fine, then i guess you don't want any treats." Rapunzel shrugged. Pascal perked up and stared at her. "I had a feeling that would get your attention." She smirked, taking a cookie from her pocket and dangling it in front of him, his long tongue shot out and grabbed it from her before running off to hide and eat it. "Well you're welcome!" Rapunzel shouted sarcastically at him.

"RAPUNZEL!" Gothel's voice came booming from the floor, where the entrance was. Rapunzel rushed over to see if she was okay but she was far from it. "Help me please!" She reached up and the young woman grabbed her arms, pulling her into the lounge, Rapunzel was not surprisingly very strong, all those years of hoisting Gothel up the tower with her hair had paid off. Rapunzel helped her over to the table, which she leaned over, panting and groaning heavily. "Rapunzel it's started, for real this time!" Rapunzel's eyes widened.

"Are you sure?" They had gotten scared a few times by false labour in the past few weeks.

"Yes, my waters broke when I was down stairs and my contractions are only a few minutes apart. I've been feeling them all night but I just ignored them assuming they were fake but they're not!" she groaned through a rather painful contraction. Rapunzel nodded.

"Maybe you should sit down?"

"I can't, being still makes it worse." She gasped, being freed from the pain for a few minutes. Rapunzel took a deep breath, she knew she had to stay calm for this, if she knew her mother as well as she thought she did she knew she'd start getting angry and overly emotional when she was in this much pain so it was best to just not ask questions and use her own common sense. She got some towels and blankets and laid them over her bed then came back to the table and brushed some stray hair from her face.

"Come with me" She tugged on Gothel's arm gently, she was hesitant but she went with her. "It'll be more comfortable in here." Rapunzel closed the door, she tried to act calm and collected but inside she was terrified, she had no idea what was going to happen she only hoped for the best.

"You don't have to stay." Gothel said quietly.

"I'm not leaving you, not a chance!" Rapunzel stayed firm on that. Gothel was about to protest but another contraction hit her like a truck, this one more painful than any of the others she'd had. She dropped to her knees and leaned her arms and chest against her bed. "You're not breathing properly."

"I'm trying! Do you want to do it instead?" She snapped, causing Rapunzel's eyes to roll.

"I'm only trying to help..."

"I don't need your help I can do it myself!" She growled, causing Rapunzel to tilt her head in disbelief.

"RAPUNZEL!" She shouted as the blonde walked previous sentence has been the pain talking, she didn't really want to do this alone, she knew she couldn't.

"Nope, you said you can do this alone, so do it alone, I'm not going to interfere, good luck tell me when it's over."

"Stop it! Don't go!" She cried, clutching hard at the pain in her abdomen.

"Are you gonna behave?" Rapunzel asked seriously.

"Yes, just come back!" She choked.

"I wasn't really going to leave!" Rapunzel knelt next to her and used one of the towels to dry the sweat from her face. "but i will if you don't stop snapping at me like that! I get that you're in pain but being angry isn't helping anything, it's just making everything worse." Gothel hated to admit it but she was right.

"I'm sorry just don't leave me-" This came out as more of a squeak whilst she held Rapunzel's arm tightly. A certain sense of vulnerability she'd never felt before suddenly washed over her. Rapunzel could feel her shaking and so held her hand and massaged her back with the other hand hoping to soothe her even a little. IT worked to an extent as a tingling feeling spread through her body as Rapunzel rubbed her back, it felt nice and comforting, allowing her to focus and take longer and deeper breathes. Rapunzel took her hand away for a split second and she reacted quickly, turning to face her.

"No, don't stop." She said in an almost inaudible whisper. Rapunzel eased her up on to the bed so she was more comfortable.

"I'm not stopping, i just wanted to get you off the floor." She pushed her mothers ebony curls out of her face. "Wait did you like that?" It just occurred to Rapunzel that she may have been helpful for once, without knowing it. Gothel nodded her head, biting her bottom lip in preparation for a contraction that seemed to come a lot faster this time. She tucked her legs underneath her, balancing in her hands and knees, letting Rapunzel massage her lower back to ease the pain of the contractions. As they got worse and more frequent she held Rapunzel's hand tightly, squeezing it with each coming contraction, Rapunzel winced in pain her fingers being brutally crushed together each time but she allowed it as she couldn't even imagine the pain her mother was going though, she could barely compare it to this. Hearing Rapunzel groaning in pain, she let go of her daughter's hand.

"Sorry!" She cried.

"It's fine, it's no big deal." the blonde shook her injured hand around trying to regain the blood flow. Gothel sat up, taking a deep shaky breath before announcing;

"I think it's happening... it hurts so much."

"Okay!" Rapunzel shot up. "Don't worry you can do this!" Gothel lay back stretching her legs out which were numb at this point from sitting on them for so long. The pain was hitting her like bullets now.

"Mph, I can't!" She whined.

"Yes you can!" She encouraged, moving up the bed, wiping some of the dampness on her cheeks with her sleeve. She bent her knees and separated her legs a little, still terrified but slightly comforted by the support she was receiving from Rapunzel. She reached one hand down to grip a fistful of the skirt on her dress, holding it at the knee so it didn't slip down. Rapunzel was holding her other hand with both of her own. The overwhelming pressure on her pelvis made her eyes water uncontrollably, she couldn't handle it anymore and began trying to push but the pain was a lot worse than she expected, causing her to almost scream in agony. Rapunzel hated seeing her in this much pain, it caused her to cry a little herself but she stayed strong for her mother's sake and continued to wipe away the tears that fell from her eyes and she struggled to push. "Don't stop, you're doing so well" She reassure her. "You can crush the bones in my hand if it helps at all." words she would come to regret momentarily.

"I'm not going to-" She got cut off by the throbbing pain. Rapunzel felt the bones in her hand cracking as Gothel began to try pushing again, the young woman hissed, her hand had gone numb and she was feeling faint but she fought against it. Throaty painful sobs escaped the older woman's mouth, she dragged Rapunzel down then let go of the young girls hand which was now an off purple colour from the blood loss and trauma. She breathed heavily allowing herself to relax a little before she had to push again. "Are you okay?" She groaned.

"I'll be fine!" Rapunzel squeaked, trying to stretch her probably broken fingers. until Rapunzel was able to feel her hand again Gothel used the blankets beneath her to grip whilst she pushed.

Once Rapunzel had wrapped her hand up moved over to see how close they were. "You're almost there I can see it's face." Gothel shot up swallowing harshly, the thought of Rapunzel seeing her like that was mortifying to her but at this point she honestly didn't care, she just wanted it to be over. "One more and it'll be over." Rapunzel grabbed her hand again, not really caring what she did to it, it couldn't possibly break more than it already had. Already exhausted, she used the last bit of energy she had to push one last time, shattering her daughter's hand in the process. She let go of Rapunzel's hand and dropped down flat on the bed, panting heavily. When she opened her eyes again she saw Rapunzel holding her newborn, staring at it intently. Gothel forced herself to sit up in the bed, pushing her knees together and bringing them close to her chest. Rapunzel sat down on the bed next to her, placing the newborn into the other woman's arms for the first time. She very gently cradled the baby girl into her arms, staring intently down at her tiny face. Lucky for her this little one looked nothing like the father, it was all her. Ebony hair and grey eyes and something about its chubby face reminded her of Rapunzel. staring into her baby's eyes suddenly she felt a rush of warmth spread through her body. Was this love? She'd never felt it this quickly before. This baby was just so perfect to her, she'd made this little human and she loved it dearly. Suddenly all that had gone silent, was audible again, she could hear the bird chirping outside, when glancing out she saw the two Ravens from earlier, hopping around in the trees.

"Hi beautiful." Rapunzel spoke to the tiny human in her mother's arms. She reached her hand down to touch the babies rosy cheek but it's little arm came from under the blanket grabbing one of Rapunzel's fingers and squeezing it tightly. "You're just so cute!" she exclaimed softly. Whilst this was going on Gothel was having second thoughts about the ordeal from earlier, she had planned to give the baby up to a family that would look after it properly but she wasn't sure she could even bear being away from her new daughter for even a second. Maybe that's not what Eugene was trying to tell her, maybe the raven's symbolised something other than setting her free. Often ravens would be associated with death or bad omens but having practiced black magic Gothel wasn't as superstitious as most, she understood that Raven's could symbolise leading your way down the right path, it was possible that Eugene wasn't saying he wanted her to set Rapunzel free, maybe he was trying to tell her that she'd be a good mother, the sight of the birds happily chirping gave her a sense of relief. "Do you know what you're going to name her yet?" Rapunzel's voice broke her train of thought. Gothel stared down at her new child for a second before taking one more glance at the birds as they flew out of sight.

"...Raven." She said softly.

"That's pretty, it suits her." Rapunzel smiled.

* * *

Later that afternoon Rapunzel had made them both dinner, Gothel had cleaned herself up and wrapped up warm on her chair with the baby in her arms, nursing her quietly. Rapunzel sat down next to her, Gothel noticed her hand was still wrapped up.

"Haven't you healed your hand yet?" She asked.

"Actually I forgot I could do that." she laughed awkwardly. Rapunzel wrapped her hair around her hand and sung her healing song.

 _Heal what has been hurt, Change the fates' design, Save what has been lost, And Bring back what once was mine, What once was mine._

Gothel's eyes widened when she saw her baby girls eyes glowing a bright yellow as Rapunzel sung. Could it be? All those times when Rapunzel healed her whilst she was pregnant, the same thing that had happened to Rapunzel herself, somehow the magic had transferred?

"There, all better." Rapunzel smiled.

"Uhh, Rapunzel could you go into your bedroom and bring me down another blanket, I don't want her to get cold."

"Of course!" Rapunzel headed to her room. This was only an excuse to get her out of the room, she had to confirm that this wasn't a trick of her mind. She held Raven up and gazed into her eyes. She hadn't been healed by Rapunzel in a while so it was the perfect opportunity to see if this was real or not.

"If I'm right about this..." She whispered then sung- _Flower gleam and glow, Let your power shine, Make the clock reverse, Bring back what once was mine._ As predicted, Raven's eyes went from cloudy grey to bright yellow and Gothel could see the aging in her hands slowly fade away. She felt shocked but also relieved in a way. Rapunzel skipped back downstairs with a blanket.

"This is the warmest one I could find." She handed the blanket to Gothel who wrapped it around her child. Rapunzel lifted her mounts of hair up to give her head a break, it did often give her migraines, being so heavy. "Ugh." She sat down.

"What's wrong?"

"I have a headache, sometimes I feel like this hair causes more pain than it heals and I don't think it worked very well I can still feel pain in my hand." Rapunzel rubbed her scalp. Gothel stared at her silently for a few moments thinking hard about everything she'd gone through to keep this hair safe and unharmed and now the thoughts she was having made her feel like she was betraying herself.

"...Rapunzel."

"Yes?"

"Come here." Rapunzel got up and approached her slowly. Gothel extended one arm as if to hug her. Rapunzel leaned down assuming she did mean to hug her and hugged her back, resting the baby on her lap, with Rapunzel's weight holding her up, she used one hand to grab the ends of her hair and the other to grab the blade and in one quick motion the blade slashed through the hair at her shoulders. Rapunzel jumped back in awe, she turned and watched as the miles worth of hair lost its magic and turned brown as did the hair on her head.

"What did you just do!?" She exclaimed loudly, Gothel threw the blade on the floor.

"Set you free, now go!"

"You what?!" Rapunzel repeated

"Go home to your family, where you belong! I don't want you staying here just because you feel the need to allow me to use your hair, and I know that's the only reason. You said so, yourself." Gothel stood up, holding the baby tightly to her chest.

"No I didn't what are you talking about." Rapunzel almost tripped trying to walk, she wasn't used to walking without the weight of her hair behind her.

"Yes you did, you told me months ago that the reason you won't leave me and go back to your family is because I needed your hair to stay alive during my pregnancy, well I don't need it anymore so now you don't have an excuse. I won't let you stay here and be miserable, I want you to go back to your family, where you'll be happy. You can do whatever you want, talk to whoever you want and you have security to protect you. You're a princess, you shouldn't be living in a secluded tower with someone who kidnapped you for your hair you should be living in a castle with your luxuries. So just GO!"

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I stayed because I loved you? or that I cared about you? I didn't just feel obliged to keep you alive because you were pregnant, I stuck around because regardless of what happened in the past I still really cared for you and you know what? I was foolish enough to think that you cared for me too." Tears escaped Rapunzel's eyes, she felt totally heartbroken. "It's bad enough that I lost my boyfriend but now I'm losing you too? You're all I have!"

"I'm not though am I?" Gothel snarled. "You have a life of luxury waiting for you, why on earth would you chose to stay with me."

"No, no, don't worry I get it. You're newborn has my magic now so im of no use to you anymore, cut my hair off and send me back where I came from because you have your own family now." The tears were streaming down her face. Gothel placed the now asleep baby in the middle of her bed and wrapped her up so she was warm then swung round.

"How did you know she has your magic!?"

"Because that's how I got mine! I knew all along that she's have my powers but I didn't say anything because I needed a reason to stay! I wanted to stay here but I knew as soon as you knew I was no use to you anymore you'd throw me out."

"That's not what this is! I cut off your hair because I didn't think you wanted to live here! As far as I felt concerned you were only here because I needed your hair, I cut it off to show you that I don't care about your hair, I only care about you and I want you to be happy and if that means I never get to see you again then so-be-it!" Gothel's emotions got the better of her once again as the sight a crying Rapunzel made her break down in tears too. "All I care about if your happiness! You said your dream was to go on adventures and explore the world. Well I'm granting you that dream!"

"That was my old dream, I realised that it was unrealistic, not because of the situation I was in but even as a princess my parents likely wouldn't let me go anywhere on my own again. My dream for the last 6 months? Was to be part of a family. One that loved and cared for each other, and I had it. Well I did, until a few moments ago when the woman I consider to be my mother told me she doesn't want me here-"

"I didn't say I didn't want you here, I said I didn't want you to suffer here. That's completely different!"

"Since when am I suffering? You know when I was holding that little baby in my arms I've never been that happy before, not even when I fell in love with Eugene... Holding her and looking into her tiny eyes was the happiest I've ever felt in my life! I had a mother and a little sister that I loved with all my heart, Are you going to take that away from me too?" They stared each other down for a few moments, the silence was eerie and awkward. Eventually Gothel broke down and shook her head, mouthing no. "Well if you don't want me here.."

"Rapunzel, shut up!" Gothel rubbed her own eyes harshly. "You know I want you here. I don't want you to be unhappy."

"Well I'm not so you can stop worrying about that. I want to be here, not because I have to but because I want too. Sure living in a castle would be neat and whatever but it's not what I want..." She walked over to her Mother slowly. "I want you, and I want Raven. I want my happy family but im scared that you can't ever love me in the same way again, now that i-" Gothel hushed her, placing a finger over her lips then wiping her tears away. Something she'd never done to Rapunzel.

"Maybe 9 months ago yes but now? No amount of magical hair can ever change the way I feel about you. You're just as much my baby as Raven is." Rapunzel latched on to her, squeezing her waist tightly.

"Don't ever leave me." Rapunzel whispered.

"We're not going anywhere, I love you so much." Gothel replied in a similar tone of voice.

"I love you more."

* * *

 _ **The End.**_


End file.
